Demons
by Eressie
Summary: Ryou is struggling with his demons and his friends are worried. Warnings: self-harm, strong language, violence, torture, mention of rape...
1. Chapter 1

Demons

**Chapter one**

Ryou Bakura thought that the day was going quite well for a change, until Yugi asked a special question that made Ryou's heart skip a beat. He, Yugi, Honda and Jonouchi were walking home from school on a hot summer day. Everyone was tired and warm from the heat, even Yugi's hair seamed to be tired and stood up less than it used to.

"Ryou-kun, why do you have that sweater on you? It's so warm today!"

For a quick moment Ryou looked away, feeling uncomfortable, but the group didn't notice his change of mood. To answer Yugi's question, Ryou smiled.

"I'm not all that warm, Yugi-kun." He lied.

"Really? We're sweating like pigs here!" Jonouchi said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "If I were you, I would be unconscious from a heat stroke!"

"By the way Ryou-kun, you always wear a sweater! Even in gym class! What's up with that?" Honda asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah… well, I just… I just like sweaters I guess." Ryou answered, trying not to look uncomfortable. Suddenly he looked at his wrist-watch. "Oh! I must hurry home! I have so much to do today!" He said and started to run away from them, shouting a quick goodbye  
over his shoulder.

Honda frowned. "He's acting a bit weird."

Jonouchi paled. "You don't think Yami Bakura is back do you?!"

"Jonouchi! It was years ago he and Yami Yugi-kun went away!" Honda said and rolled his eyes.

"But Ryou's yami always came back! Remember!?"

Honda smacked the blond boy on his head. "This is not the case now! Both yamis are gone, for real!"

Jonouchi still looked worried. "Yugi-kun, I… hey, why do have that strange look on your face?"

Yugi looked up at the two taller boys. "I… I'm a bit worried about Ryou-kun."

"Nah, I think he's fine. Just because he's acting a bit weird doesn't mean that he is in trouble." Honda said. "He always acts weird, well, sometimes anyway."

Yugi did not look convinced. "Guys… I saw something on his wrist when he was looking at his watch." He said and stopped walking, causing the other two to stop as well.

"What was it Yugi-kun?" Jonouchi asked.

"I… well, I'm not sure, but it looked like a wound… more than one actually."

Jonouchi and Honda first looked at each other and then back at Yugi. Both were frowning. "What? You think that he is hurting himself, Yugi-kun?" Honda wondered, now taking the whole thing more seriously.

"I don't know. I hope not, it might have been an accident or something…"

Honda looked both worried and frustrated. "What shall we do about this? Shall we ask him?"

"Isn't that a bit rude?" Jonouchi asked. "What if he's not hurting himself? Why should he, by the way?"

"…he have had a rather hard life, Jono-kun." Yugi said. The group grew silent.

"So… we're going to ask him?" Jonouchi asked quietly.  
The other two shrugged.


	2. Chapter 2

**Demons  
**

**Chapter ****two**

Ryou closed the door behind him, breathing hard. He had run all the way home, without stopping once. He put down his bag beside the door and went straight to the bathroom. He needed a shower to cool him down. He quickly took off his clothes and turned on the water. It was cold but not too cold, just perfect. Ryou sighed and turned his face upwards, thinking back on the conversation he had with his friends half an hour ago.

"I think they getting suspicious…" He said to himself.

He could not tell them the truth though, they would not understand.  
Ryou raised his arms and looked down on them, cuts and bruises and more cuts covered his skin. Scars lying over each other, there were no places on his arms that haven't been cut at least once. His tights were just the same, he never cut any lower on his legs though, this way he could still wear shorts without having his scars and wounds showing.  
Ryou lowered his arms. He was not really sure how long he has been doing this to himself. He closed his eyes. He was nineteen now and he started to cut at age… was it twelve? So seven years then. Has it really been that long?  
He turned of the water and stepped out from the shower. He dried himself with a towel as he walked to his bedroom to find some new clothes. Because it was Friday and he was not going anywhere, he choose to wear his grey, soft trousers and a black t-shirt.  
Ryou lay down on his bed with a sign, he tiredly looked at his watch that stood on his bedside table. It was nearly 6:00 p.m. He yawned, he was so tired. He didn't get much sleep last night, the nightmares and his demons were keeping him awake. He decided that he could take a quick nap, so he closed his eyes and let himself fall asleep.

Ryou didn't wake up again until 3:00 a.m...  
He woke up with a start, filled with anxiety and panic. The demons were shouting at him, torturing him, trying to force Ryou to cut himself because he had tried to ignore them all day. Ryou was crying, he desperately wanted them to go away and leave him alone. Ryou's attempt to fight back just made the demons angrier.  
Ryou gave in, and grabbed one of his razorblades. If he cut himself, the demons would be pleased and leave him alone for a while. Again and again he sliced his skin. And that is how the Saturday morning begun for Ryou, just like always. Alone and in the firm grip of his enemies. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Demons**

Chapter 3

Ryou always thought that Yugi was a good friend, almost too good! And he could not understand why Yugi acted so friendly and kind towards him, after all Ryou had nothing to give back to his friend. Friend…that word sounded so unreal. For all that Ryou could remember he had always been alone, more or less. Until Yugi, he had no real friends and sometimes Ryou was scared that Yugi was tricking him, just pretending. Ryou did not want to feel that way, but he could not help it. He had such a hard time to believe it, and he got a bit angry at himself for not trusting Yugi completely.

Ryou signed and looked around him, just realising that he was in the park, and he was not really sure how he got there. He had gone out for a walk, sometime near noon, because he needed some fresh air, his apartment felt so stuffy and suffocating. He had been walking non stop and completely lost in his own thoughts, but not thinking of were he was going.  
Some kids ran past Ryou in full steed, laughing, and close behind them came their babysitter gasping for air and shouting at the kids to calm down. It was a fine sunny day, but not as warm as it had been yesterday. Which, Ryou thought, everyone was thankful for. The park was stuffed with people, most of them lying in the sun, half asleep. It was too crowded for Ryou's taste, and he started to breathe faster, feeling a panic rise inside him. He quickly walked away from the pathway he been walking on, and ran across the grass, trying not to step on someone lying on the ground. Ryou felt that everyone was looking at him, whispering about him, taunting him. And he started to run faster. When the crowd of people started to thin out, he slowed down. He was still in the park, but not nearly as much people were here. Maybe it was because of the many trees, shadowing the ground. Ryou tried to calm himself and sat down by a tree, leaning back against it with his eyes closed. He sat there alone for ten minutes, and then he got company.

"Ryou-kun?" A familiar voice said.

The white haired boy opened his eyes to see the boy he had been thinking about earlier that day. "Ah, Yugi-kun!" He exclaimed and sat up more straight.

"You're okay?" The smaller boy asked and sat down beside Ryou. "You seam to be a little flushed, you don't have a fever, do you?" He asked, sounding concerned. When Yugi raised his hand to touch Ryou's forehead, the white haired boy smiled and said.

"I'm all right, Yugi-kun. I've just been running a little, that's all."

Yugi frowned and lowered his hand. "Running?"

"Yeah, eh, I needed some exercise." Ryou said, trying not to look away from Yugi.

Yugi looked down on Ryou's clothes, which were his normal everyday outfit. Maybe not the perfect garments to wear when you are going out running on a summer's day. Yugi decided to play along.

"Oh, okay then." He said and nodded.

Silence fall between them, and Ryou cursed himself because he was such a bad company today. _"Yugi must be bored out of his mind all ready." _He thought to himself. _"Poor Yugi, who have to be with me! He's surely just sitting here to be polite or something, I bet he want to be anywhere but here with me right now!" _

"Ryou-kun… are you all right." Yugi asked carefully, interrupting Ryou's thoughts.

Ryou was a bit startled by the question but smiled as usual. "Of coarse, Yugi-kun." He said. "Why do you ask?"

Yugi looked down on his hands on his lap. "Well, it's just that… um, I kind of saw something on your... wrist yesterday." He said and slowly looked up at Ryou so see how he reacted.

Ryou felt a hard kick in his belly and his heart skipped a beat. _"Calm down, Ryou, he might not mean that!"_ His mind screamed. "Oh really?"

Yugi took a deep breath. "Ryou, do you hurt yourself?"

"No!" Ryou said too quickly. "Why would you ask something like that?"

"Ryou…"

"Ah, I have to go Yugi-kun." Ryou said and started to stand up. But Yugi grabbed his arm and pulled him down again, Ryou was surprised how strong the small boy really was.

"No, Ryou, tell me the truth." He said firm but gentle.

Inside Ryou felt like he would burst. He started to tremble and tears appeared in his eyes against his will. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, another lie. But he could not say a word. And then he gave up and started to sob.  
Yugi didn't hesitate to embrace him. "Oh, dear Ryou…"

Yugi held Ryou close as he cried into his shoulder, and Ryou held on to Yugi as his life depended on it, and for Ryou, it did. None of them knew how long they stayed like that, but Yugi did not loosen his grip on the white haired boy the slightest under all that time. But after a while, Ryou tried to pull away from Yugi, apologising again and again. But Yugi was not having any of it, instead he just held him tighter.  
When Ryou's sobs finally ended and he was lying still in Yugi's arms. The three coloured haired boy started to talk.

"I want to help you, Ryou-kun."

Ryou pressed his face against Yugi's chest. "You cannot help me, Yugi-kun, no one can."

Yugi felt saddened at the hopelessness he heard in Ryou's voice. "Will you not even let me try?"

"I don't know… you shouldn't bother yourself with me, Yugi-kun." He whispered.

Yugi decided that he had enough of it and released Ryou from his embrace. He pushed Ryou up a little and laid his hands on either side on Ryou's face. "Look at me, Ryou." He said firmly. Ryou hesitated, but did as Yugi commanded. "You. Are. Not. A. Burden." He said and looked into Ryou's eyes. "I am your friend, and I am going to help you."

Ryou could not help it and started to cry again, but this time because of Yugi's words. He didn't know what he should say, he was just so grateful for Yugi. "Thank you." He whispered.

Yugi embraced him anew. "You don't have to thank me, stupid." He smiled. "We're in this together now."

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Reviews are highly appreciated:) 


	4. Chapter 4

**Demons**

**Chapter ****four**

After meeting Yugi in the park yesterday and revealing his secret to him, Ryou was filled with dread of seeing his friend again. At the moment, Ryou was sitting in his sofa holding a big pillow to his chest, biting on his lip as he always did when he was deep in thought or worried. Yugi was coming over soon but Ryou was not sure if he wanted to see him, right now he was thinking that he never wanted to see Yugi again. Not now when Yugi knew this about him. How should he act?! Would their friendship forevermore be filled with tension and weird, stiff conversations?!  
Ryou buried his head into the pillow he was holding and squeezing his eyes shut. Trying to think of what to say to Yugi when he arrived, but he could not come up with anything. He desperately wanted to tell his friend **everything, **but did not have the guts. And he really did not want to dig up old wounds. He clearly remembered what happened to him in the past, and why he is the person he is today. But he did not want to try to remember, he wanted to pretend that everything was just a very bad dream and that nothing really happened.  
Ryou sighed and squeezed his right arm with his left, as hard as he could. He had hurt himself half an hour ago, and now his arms were wearing twenty-four new cuts. He had done it to calm himself, stilling his inner turmoil. It did help, but now Ryou felt the anxiety sneaking up on him again.  
Suddenly the doorbell rang, and Ryou jumped, lifting his head from the pillow with a start. His brown eyes widened. _"Oh no, he's here already!"_ He stared at the door, like he was expecting Yugi to come in any second although it was locked. It rang again, and this time it was followed with a knock. Ryou did not move.

"Ryou-kun? It's me Yugi."

The white haired boy lowered his eyes to the pillow, but did not make any move to open the door.

"Ryou-kun, please open the door." Yugi pleaded though the wood.

Ryou took a deep breath and stood up; he slowly went to the door and laid his left hand on the handle and the other hand on the door lock. He hesitated.

"Ryou-kun… please."

Ryou frowned but opened the door with a click and then he slowly backed away, his hands shaking a little. The door began to open and revealed the three coloured haired boy, with a worried look on his face.

"Hi." Yugi said with a small smile, looking relieved. He stepped in and closed the door behind him.

Ryou did not meet his eyes. "Don't look at me like that, Yugi-kun."

Yugi frowned a little. "What?"

"Don't look at me with pity." He said irritated and finally looking up.

"I- I wasn't, I'm just worried about you, my friend."

"You don't have to be worried," He said and walked to the sofa he was sitting on just recently, "I'm quite fine actually." He finished and sat down.

Yugi walked after him and sat down on the other end of the sofa, facing him.

"I don't believe you, Ryou-kun. You can stop pretending. I know, remember?"

"_I nearly wish you didn't." _Ryou thought to himself.

A heavy silence fell; neither really knew what to say. Yugi tried several times to say something, but he never did. The way the short boy opened his mouth all the time, reminded Ryou of a fish. Finally, Yugi dared to break the silence.

"Ryou-kun…" He whispered, looking up at the boy on the other side of the sofa. "Why?"

Ryou twiddled with the end of his long white hair, not looking at his friend. "I don't think you really want to know…"

"Tell me." Yugi said.

"I- I… It's hard, Yugi. I never told **anyone** before!" Ryou said and buried his face in his hands.

"I know it must be hard, Ryou-kun. But you can trust me." Yugi said softly and watched as Ryou took a deep breath, looking terrified.

"It happened seven years ago… I was twelve." He began, his voice nearly breaking. "I… it happened so fast, and I didn't have the time to react!" He took a short pause. "I was walking home one late afternoon; it was January the 3rd … it was winter, cold and dark. S-suddenly… a large man showed up out of nowhere, he- he grabbed me. Lifting me up with one arm and covered my mouth with the other…" Tears were rolling down Ryou's cheeks now and he hugged his legs to his chest. "The man took me to his house that lay just there, and- and I was terrified!" Ryou sobbed. "He forced me down on the bed, and I- I remember that the sheets were reeking of sweat and of old man. I w-was begging him to let me go, I was crying and I t-told him I was only a child!" Ryou said with a pained voice. "He destroyed me, Yugi… again and again..." Ryou broke down at last, and he cried the way only a tormented soul could.

Yugi couldn't move, he was shocked by what Ryou just said. He was crying and did not want to believe the horrible thing that happened to his kind and innocent friend. He slowly moved towards Ryou and rapped his arms around him. He held him carefully like glass, afraid that his dear friend would break if he held him too tightly. He had no words now, what do you say to a friend who had been tormented so brutally and heartlessly?  
Nearly three hours went by before Ryou said anything again. He lay with his head in Yugi's lap, a blanket wrapped around him.

"He threatened to kill me and my family if I told anyone." Ryou whispered, and Yugi looked at him. "He had thrown a very small amount of money on me afterwards… as some sort of payment for my innocence and childhood, I guess." Ryou sighed when Yugi started to stoke his hair in comfort. "I was ill for a week after that, and I barely spoke to anyone, not even to my twin sister, Amane." He took a short pause. "I felt… sullied, and I still do."

"Ryou…" Yugi began.

The white haired boy interrupted him. "I smelled his scent on me no matter how many times I bathed, and scrubbed my skin raw. He was groaning inside of my head and he was crawling under my skin, and I tried to cut him out… but he didn't go away." Ryou closed his eyes. "I made my first suicide attempt three weeks after the rape… but it failed. My sister broke into my locked bedroom and found me unconscious on the floor. I was bleeding heavily and I had swallowed all the pills I could find in the house…" Ryou opened his eyes again. "My parents tried to make me well, and the doctors and physiatrists tried to make me well… I pretended that I was feeling better and later they loosened their hold on me." Ryou frowned and tears started to appear in his eyes again.  
"Three years after my rape… something else happened." He whispered, and Yugi had to lean down to hear what Ryou was saying. "My mom and Amane had been away shopping and on their way home, they…they collided with a truck and the driver was drunk." He sobbed quietly. "My mom died i- instantly they said, and Amane died a short while a- afterwards on the way to the hospital…" He turned around and pressed his face into Yugi's stomach.  
All Yugi could do was to hold him again, trying to comfort him. He felt saddened for Ryou, but he also felt strong hatred for the men who ruined Ryou's life. Yugi also hated the fact that he was so helpless right now. He desperately wanted to take away Ryou's sorrows and make him happy and cheerful, but he had no idea how.  
Yugi stroke his hand over the crying boy's hair. "I will make you well again." He said and hugged his friend. "I promise you that."

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Reviews are highly appreciated!! 


	5. Chapter 5

**Demons**

**Chapter**** 5**

It was morning, Monday morning. Which meant that a new day of agony waited for Ryou. He lay on his back with his hands under his head, staring up at the dark ceiling. The sun had not risen yet, and Ryou's alarm clock would not ring for at least four hours. The white haired boy felt exhausted, but he could not sleep. Ryou tore his eyes away from the roof and looked around his dark room. Everything always looked so different when the light was off. Ryou widened his eyes and grabbed his cover and pulled it more closely around him. He could see shapes of grotesque figures glaring at him in the dark, they were swaying back and forwards where they stood on the floor and some of them were hanging in the roof in the corners of his room. They reached for him with their long and sharp nails. Ryou let out a choked scream and quickly turned on the lights in his room. He breathed fast and looked around the room for the ugly creatures, but they had already fled, they must be deathly afraid of the light. The young boy was trembling, he was not really sure if he was awake or asleep anymore. The monsters had been here, they must have been! Ryou had seen them as clearly as he saw Yugi everyday or as he saw himself in the mirror. He leaned back against his headboard with a sigh. He decided that he would have the lights on for now, those _things_ might come back.  
For the following hour he sat still and awake on his bed wrapped in his cover like a cocoon, trapped in his own mind.

'_You coward, Ryou! How pathetic can you get!? You filthy thing! You're a sorry excuse for a human!'_

'_I'm sorry…'_

'_And now you're talking to yourself too! You're really weird, you know that?'_

'…'

'_I wonder how Yugi and the others can stand you; I mean you have absolutely NOTHING to give them. You're not funny, smart or even __pleasant!'_

'…'

'_And you smell horrible! I wonder how your classmates and teachers are able to sit in the same room as you! You should never go to school anymore; they don't want you there anyway! When are you gonna get that?!'_

'…'

'_You're nothing, a mistake. You should not be alive. You're just taking up space!'_

Ryou lowered his head into his arms, with tears in his eyes. He did not know where the voice was coming from, nor did he care. It was right anyway, every word was true.  
Suddenly Ryou gasped, he felt like there were worms crawling under his skin! Worms! Ryou started to panic, he had to get them out! They were eating him from the inside! He fumbled to find something sharp what he could use to get them out, and he started to cry when he didn't find anything. He always had something! Where had his razors gone?! His mind was spinning, and his breath was coming in short, quick gasps. There! He found it, at last! He sank down on the floor and he started to slice at his flesh, aggressively and fast. Slowly he could feel the worms leaving his body, and he started to cry with relief.  
Later, he sat once again on his bed and his fast breathing was starting to calm down. His arms and chest was covered in blood and he was starting to feel the pain from the wounds he had caused on his body. He was tired and slightly dizzy from the blood loss, and all he wanted now was to sleep.  
Just as Ryou was about to lie down on his bed and finally give in to his weariness, his alarm clock sounded.

-----------------------------------

Yugi sat by his desk in school and his blond friend, Jonouchi, sat beside him and looked bored out of his mind. They were having math, one of Jonouchi's most hated subject. Yugi tried as hard as he could to concentrate on what he was suppose to do, but he kept glancing every now and then towards Ryou's empty seat.

"Worried about Ryou-kun again?" Jonouchi asked and looked at Yugi.

The short boy looked a bit startled, but nodded and looked down on his desk. Yugi had told Jonouchi and Honda about Ryou and how seriously his problems really were. Both had been shocked by the information, but Yugi did not think they really understood what he had told them. They had not been there when Ryou had talked about his horrible past, and they were not there to comfort him that day. Shortly after Yugi told them about Ryou, Honda and Jonouchi had started to search for facts on the internet about self-harming and other things to try to understand better what Ryou was going through. They wanted to help Ryou, but because they never had to deal with things like this before, they didn't really know what to do.

"Do you think he is going to be all right, Yugi-kun?" Jonouchi asked quietly.

Yugi sighed. "I dunno, Jono-kun… I certainly hope so." He said and glanced once again at Ryou's desk. "He said he was going to be here today, I wonder what happened…"

Their teacher suddenly looked up from her papers and books in the front of the classroom; she looked their way and grunted. That meant she was getting irritated on them and if they continued to talk instead of working they might as well leave her classroom.

Jonouchi mumbled something under his breath that was too low for Yugi to hear. But he thought he heard something like 'pig' and 'troll'. A minute or so passed until Jonouchi started to whisper to Yugi again.

"Shall we go to Ryou-kun after school?"

Yugi thought before he answered. "Yes, I want to see if he's okay… but he might not want to see us, though."

They heard their teacher grunt again, this time much louder. Both Yugi and Jonouchi sighed, they were in trouble now.

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Reviews are highly appreciated!! 


	6. Chapter 6

**Demons**

**Chapter 6  
**

"Yo! Ryou-kun are you in there?" Jonouchi called and knocked on the door for the third time. The door did not open and they received no answers. The blond boy sighed and tried the doorknob, he twisted it and the door swung open. He blinked and smiled at the two boys behind him. "It's open!"

"We can se that, dummy." Honda said with a smirk. Jonouchi glared at him, but he did not say anything. Yugi walked past the two taller boys and entered the apartment.

He looked around, trying to see their white haired friend. "Ryou-kun?"

The room was very quiet and dark; the curtains had been drawn so that they shut out the light. Yugi walked to one of the windows and pulled the curtains away, making the room brighter. In the meantime Honda and Jonouchi went to check the bedroom and bathroom. Ryou's room was usually quite tidy and organised, but now there lay stuff outspread everywhere. The whole bedroom was a chaos. The boys had to lift stuff up from the floor to be able to walk anywhere.

"Watcha think has happened here?!" Jonouchi exclaimed and sat down on the unmade bed.

"How should I know?" Honda answered with a raised eyebrow. "Robbers?"

Jonouchi's eyes went wide. "Robbers!" He shouted and stood up. "It must have been robbers, and they have kidnapped poor Ryou-kun!" Suddenly his face changed from hysterical and sad to furious. "I'll KILL those bastards!"

"Calm down, will you?" Honda frowned. "Ryou-kun hasn't been kidnapped!"

Jonouchi looked at him and sat down on the bed again. "He hasn't? How can you be so sure?" He asked confused.

"Because I said so." He answered with confidence and lifted up some papers near his feet. He took a look at the first page; it had something written upon it. "Looks like Ryou-kun write poems..." He mumbled and started to read:

_"My breath is coming in short gasp  
something is suffocating me,  
my only way out is blocked  
there's nowhere to flee._

_Panic rise inside me  
and I'm no longer thinking clear,  
I'm desperate and losing control  
drowning in my fear. _

I'm crying and screaming  
I feel my legs give out,  
my mind goes blank and  
I fall to the grown with a shout.

I exhausted and tired  
all I want to do is rest,  
die and get away  
from this burden in my chest. 

_I'll give up now  
I can't handle this anymore,  
I can as well lie here  
on this cold forest floor._

_I can no longer breathe  
and no longer feel,  
fuck it all  
nothing is real."_

Honda looked up from the papers with a sad look on his face, and looked at Yugi who had entered the room while he was reading.  
"No sign of Ryou-kun?" The short boy asked softly.

Honda and Jonouchi shook their heads in denial. Both rather shaken with Ryou's poem.  
"Where can he be then?" Yugi asked himself softly and looked around the messy room.

Suddenly they heard Jonouchi gasp, and looking kind of ill. He pointed down on the bed near the pillows and then he pointed down on the floor by the bedside table. Blood. The blond haired boy quickly backed away from the dried red liquid; he never could stand the sight of blood.

"H-how often do you think h-he d-does….that?" Jonouchi said horrified, looking pale.

None answered him. Yugi walked to a chair that lay up-side-down and turned it the right way. He sat down with his elbows on his knees and put chin in his hands. He signed. _"Were are you now, dear Ryou?" _He wondered._ "I only want to help you and get you well… I don't want you to suffer anymore." _He drew a hand through his three coloured hair and sat up a little bit straighter. "Shall we go out and look for him?" He wondered and looked up at the other two boys who stood silent in the room, and looked as sad as he felt.

Honda shrugged. "We'll probably won't find him, because we don't really know where to look." He sighed. "He could be anywhere, Yugi-kun." He said and looked down on the floor. "Maybe we can wait for him here and see if he comes back? And while we're waiting we could try and clean this mess up…"

---------------------------

Ryou sat high up in a tree in the park. He had never felt more unwelcome in his own home! The shadows in there and his demons had practically chased him out from there. He shivered, the sun was going down and he was only clad in shorts and a thin T-shirt. He pulled up his bare legs and pressed them against his thin chest with his arms, trying his hardest to keep the balance on the large tree branch he sat on. He closed his eyes and thought back on what happened just two hours ago.

**Flashback  
**_They were shouting at him, much louder then Ryou ever heard them shout before! Horrendous monsters were screeching horrible things and words in his ears, making his already existing headache worse. Their claws were scratching his pale pace and biting at his chest with needle sharp teeth! Ryou screamed, throwing- whatever he could get his hands on, on the demons!_

_"Go away!" He screamed. "Leave me alone!" He felt like his throat was bleeding and starting to tear apart. Why did they not leave him the fuck alone!? His room were spinning around him when he struggled to get out from there! He fell, knocking down his chair and desk. He gasped after breath. The floor had started to disappear, and soon he would be swallowed by a black hole! With his last strength, Ryou pulled himself up from the floor using the knocked over chair. His tears were streaming down his face. He stumbled out from his apartment, without shoes or locking the door, he just wanted to get away!  
He heard his demons laugh at him, 'You can't escape, little boy!'  
He knew that was true, he could not escape from his demons. But at least he could run away from those grotesque things in his room! He world were swirling around him, making him clueless were he was going. His feet were bleeding and he felt like his lungs were going to collapse! But then at last, he saw his rescue. An old tree, he always felt a little bit safer up there. Like no one or nothing could touch him! He started to climb…_  
**End Flashback**

And that's how he got there. Sitting in only thin clothes, high up above the ground. Clueless of course, that his friends were in his apartment cleaning up the mess he had made when trying to get away from his enemies. The world around him was back to normal, he still could feel his demons. He always could, but now they were just whispering in the back of his mind. He hurt all over his body, mostly from fighting the monsters and demons in his room, but also from the pain he inflicted upon himself on purpose. Without looking, Ryou new that he already was covered in bruises and the wounds on his feet were stinging like hell!

He sighed, not quite ready to go back yet. So he decided that he could as well stay up there in the tree a couple more hours.  
Little did he know that his worried friends also stayed put.

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**Authors note:** So… what do you think about that?  
The poem in here, I wrote a long time ago. I just found it among old papers and stuff and decided that I wanted to use it for something…  
Make me really happy, and REVIEW! 

//Eressie


	7. Chapter 7

**Demons**

**Chapter 7**

**  
**

Ryou woke with a start, nearly falling out of the tree that he was still sitting in. He clung tightly to the branches around him and breathed heavily. He looked around in confusion, and discovered that it was beginning to darken. He pulled himself up to sit more comfortable, he winced as the new wounds on his body stretched painfully. After he calmed his razing heart, he started to climb down. His arms and legs shook from the effect, but finally he reached the ground. After a few calming breaths, he took his first steps towards home.  
Ryou was thankful that he did not meet anyone as he walked, he did not want to explain to anyone why he was in such an awful state.  
_'Everyone must be home... with their big, happy family._' Ryou thought sadly and jealously.  
He too had a family once, with a mom, and a sister and a father. Well, his father he still had but…  
_'He can as well be dead too.'_ Ryou frowned. _'We never see each other, we never speak to each other…'_ Ryou sighed angrily. _'Why am I thinking of him? I shouldn't care about him! He certainly does not care about me, right?'_ He frowned, feeling that he was a bit unfair to his father.  
_'But he does the best he can.'_ Ryou convinced himself, and felt ill of ever thinking anything bad about his only living relative. _'He lost the two people he loved most, and now he is stuck with his pathetic son who is as fragile as a baby that he has to care for!'_ He growled at first and then he sighed with guilt.  
_'It must be hard for him… he pay for all my medicines and my physiatrist – who I haven't even seen for quite some time. All father's money is going to waste, because his good-for-nothing son is too scared to talk about his problems!'  
_He stumbled on a tree root that had grown up from the asphalt. He managed to regain his balance. His body hurt from the movements from avoiding falling to the ground. He bit down on the inside of his cheeks from crying out load. After a minute or so he started to walk again, his eyes filled with tears. _'Why am I even here?'_ His tears fell. _'Why do I try to survive anymore when I know that it is hopeless? My 'illness' as they call it, can't be cured. It is a part of me now… or rather, it __**is**__ me! It is all that I have left… I don't remember the other, happy me anymore, and it seams that no one else does either.'_

Ryou raised his right hand to wipe away the salty tears. He shook his head with a joyless laugh.  
"Look at me… what is this filth that I have become?" He said to himself.

'_**Sullied… **__**tarnished**__**…'**_ The demons hissed in delight in the back of his mind. And Ryou gagged in disgust of himself, wiping his hands on his shirt to try to get the imaginary dirt off from his hands.  
_**'You want to be clean once again, little Ryou?' **_They laughed. _**'Innocent?'  
**_Ryou gasped and fell down on his knees, clutching the front of his shirt. "Go away…"  
They laughed in respond. _**'Cut yourself clean, little one.'**_ They hissed and seamed to caress his soul. _**'Carve, and let the red liquid wash yourself fresh once again...'**_

Ryou shuddered, and his trembling hands found its way to a chain around his neck in which his beloved razor hang.  
He lifted the chain free from his neck and clutched the sharp steel in his hand. His once shaking hand became more steady and firm as he cut a long and deep cut in his upper left arm. The blood came pouring out and already Ryou felt calmer, but he needed more. So much more, he lifted the razor again.

"RYOU!"

The white haired boy came out from his trance, when three voices shouted his name behind him. He growled for being interrupted and quickly hid the razor. He slowly turned his head around to see Yugi, Jonouchi and Honda running towards him.

"Where have you been?!"

"Don't scare us like that!"

"Ah, Ryou! You're hurt!"

Ryou did not really know who said what, because they all talked at the same time. Before he had time to react, the three other boys helped him to his feet. They started to half drag, half carry him towards his apartment. That, Ryou realized, was not too far away. He had passed his own building as he had walked with his head full of thoughts.

Ryou just felt thousands emotions rushing through him at that moment, and he could not deicide on with emotion to focus on. Angry? He was angry of course, for interrupting him. But also relived that they did. He frowned when he suddenly found himself sitting in his own bed. _'How did they get me here so fast?'_

Honda sat on his right side and Jonouchi sat on his left side, they were tending to his wounds and bandaging them. Yugi sat on the floor, washing his dirt covered wounds on his feet.

The two boys at his sides were talking to him, fast and at the same time. Instead of trying to hear what they were saying Ryou ignored them completely. He looked at Yugi instead, who had not said a word in a long time. And neither did he raise his head to look at Ryou.

'_**He is ashamed of you, boy.' **_The demons hissed. _**'And he sure is disgusted by you.'**_

'_Yes, I know.'_ Ryou thought, and closed his eyes. _'I know.' _

The white haired boy felt Jonouchi shake his shoulder gently, he opened his eyes again to glance at him."We were all worried for you, pal." Jonouchi said. "Thought that you had been kidnapped or something!"  
Ryou frowned again and looked down on his hands that lay in his lap.

"Ryou-kun?" Asked a quite voice.

Ryou lifted his head to look at Yugi who stood before him. The shorter boy pulled and picked at his shirt, where the millennium puzzle used to hang before. He always used to play or hold the puzzle when he was worrying or thinking. Right now, it seamed that Yugi really would wanted his yami to still be there – to help him and give him advises.  
"Ryou-kun?" Yugi quietly asked again, but the other boy did not answer him.

"Are you not going to tell us what happened?" Honda asked and laid a comforting hand on Ryou's right shoulder.  
Ryou shook his head and shrugged, and avoided looking at them.

"Please, Ryou-kun." Jonouchi pleaded. "We just want to help."

Ryou breathed a little quicker, with a hopeless look on his face. "Guys," He whispered. "Can… can I sleep?"  
Jonouchi was about to protest, he wanted some answers and explanations, but Honda glared at him.  
"Sure, Ryou, just rest." Honda said softly, and pulled a blanket over the white haired boy as he lay down with his back towards them. The three friends exited from the bedroom and went to Ryou's living room/kitchen to sit down. They sat quiet for a long time, before Honda broke the silence.

"Do you think we should, you know…call someone?"

Jonouchi frowned. "Who?"

Yugi looked up. He had not said much at all since they found Ryou earlier. "I think you're right, Honda-kun… Ryou needs help." He said slowly.  
"Jonouchi's eyes widened, finally understanding what the other two were talking about. "You wanna send him to a psych ward or something?" He exclaimed.

Yugi looked sad. "I think this is too large for us to handle all by ourselves, Jonouchi-kun." He said. "Ryou needs professional help."

In his bedroom Ryou was still awake, half listening to his friends that talked in the other room.

'_Am I going to a psychiatric hospital… again?'_ His eyes widened and he closed his eyes in pain as he heard his demons screaming from anger.  
_'Of coarse They are furious,'_ Ryou thought. _'In the psychiatric hospital there are peoples who try to 'cure' mentally unstable people from their demons.'_  
_**'But they are wrong, they are the ones that needs treatment.'**_ They hissed _**'Escape, we're not going there, boy.'**_

Ryou tried to ignore Them. Concentrating on the wall before him, he tried to block Them out the best he could. He knew that They would make him pay for it later, oh yes, he knew. But right now, he had to fight Them. He needed to stay as clear in the head as possible; his friends were still in his apartment. _'They do not need to see me at my worst.' _

He sat up, breathing fast. _'I need something to focus on.' _He rose up from his bed and walked to his desk, choking back a cry with every step he took. His wounded feet were now cared for, but they still hurt a lot when walking with them. He sat down on the chair and reached for a pen and paper.  
He had begun to write a short story once, that was based on his own experiences, but he never came far with it. Now though, he had something to write down again. A bittersweet memory from long ago. He lifted the pen to the paper:

_Once when I twelve, I thought I saw an angel. It was my second suicide attempt in a very short period of time,__ and this happened not too long after He destroyed me. I probably hallucinated by the loss of blood and by the strange mix of pills that I had found in my parent's __bathroom cabinet. But it did stand an angel in my room, he was leaning against the wall and looked right at me. He was not as I always imagined an angel. He had no wings, no halo and no little harp that he played on. He stood there, barefoot, dressed in black pants and a red shirt that were too large for him. He had very short brown hair, and he had white paint around his brown eyes. His eyes were sad, but he did not do anything to help me. I remember that he seamed to glow, a soft, light glow. And that was the last thing I saw before I lost consciousness_.

Ryou lay his pen down with a sigh. He remembered that moment like it happened just minutes ago. Suddenly he gasped and fell down to the floor, he desperately tried to breath but it felt like something squeezed his very lungs! He scratched his face and neck with his nails, and bit down on his tongue and his lips so hard that they started to bleed. The tears fell from his eyes as he heard Them. _**'You disobeyed us, boy.'**_

TBC...

* * *

Author's note: You might be wondering were Anzu is. I decided not to have her in this fic. Why? I just don't like her.  
The more you review, the more I'll write! :D


	8. Chapter 8

**Demons**

**Chapter 8**

"_Wake up, Ryou."_

_A gentle voice, that sounded so far away and the feeling of someone carefully touching his shoulder. Slowly he felt the light fog leave his head as he opened his eyes to see a smiling female face looking down on him. Ryou felt the mattress shift and his awakener stroke his tousled white hair._

_Ryou yawned and smiled back. "Good morning."_

_"Morning? It's noon already!" She exclaimed_

_"It is?" Ryou asked confused, and turned his head so he could se the window behind him. The curtain has been pulled away and the sun was shining in. Ryou chuckled and rubbed his brown eyes, "So it is."_

_Both of them fell silent, and Ryou gently took her hand. Still lying down, he smiled up on her. "Why are you here?"_

_She smiled back. "I came to wake you up of course. It would be such a shame if you slept through the whole beautiful day."  
Ryou nodded and sat up, leaning back against the wall, looking a bit gloomy._

_"You're ok?"_

_Ryou looked at her. "Yes, right now, yes." He smiled a little. "I want to stay here. Just like this for the rest of my life."_

_"Wouldn't that be a little boring?"_

_Ryou shrugged. "Maybe, but I would rather sit here, happy and rested, than…" Ryou stopped talking and looked down on his hand on his lap, he cleared his throat and looked up. "I don't wanna talk about that. Let just sit here..."_

_"Or sit on the railing of the balcony…" The other said and stood up._

_Ryou laughed and quickly tossed the cover from his legs and stood up to follow her. He watched as she opened the balcony doors and jumped up on the railing with the grace of a cat. He copied her movements although a bit slower and much less graceful. He made himself as comfortable and relaxed as you can get on a railing without falling down from it.  
They were no longer in his small apartment; instead they were sitting on a balcony railing to a cosy palace. The room they just left was four times bigger than his normal room, with a king size bed. He looked out over the beautiful garden that was filled with excellent climbing trees. The sun swept in everything with a golden light.  
'It's just like some fairytale here…' Ryou thought with a smile, and sighed. He turned his head to his left where the girl sat and swung her legs to the tune she was humming. The girl was alike his own appearance except for the hair. Her hair, once white just like her brother's hair, was dyed deep red. A colour she usually preferred, but blue and black was also a favourite. 'My dear Amane…' He smiled 'My dear, colourful, brave, happy, sweet and caring Amane… such an amazing girl you are.'_

_"Hey, what are you thinking of?" The red haired one asked and gently kicked his left foot._

_"You, right now." Ryou said and smiled at her. "I miss you."_

_She nodded. "Yeah… I miss you too."  
Silence fell between them once again, and Amane sighed. "You eventually have to go back you know that, don't you?"_

_Ryou nodded. "I know." He said quietly. "But I don't want to…"_

_"I don't want you to go either. But you know, you have to live your life."_

_Ryou snorted. "Live my life? That's a funny thing to say. I barely exist." He sighed, and looked up at her. "And I don't want to do that either."_

_"Please," She said. "Please, Ryou…"_

_"Please what?" Ryou asked a little irritated._

_Silent tears fell from her brown eyes. "Please, brother… stay alive and live?"_

_Ryou snorted. "And why should I?"_

_"Because I can't!" She exclaimed, but calmed down as she continued to speak. "I didn't want to die at fifteen..." She sighed. "There was so much I wanted to do! So many dreams I longed to fulfil…" She looked at him. "Please, Ryou. Live. And live for me too?" The white haired boy looked at her with a crestfallen face with tears in his eyes._

_"I'm sorry, brother. I didn't mean to make you sad, I…"_

_"I'm sorry…" Ryou interrupted with a whisper, one that Amane barely heard._

_"What?"_

_"I'm sorry… I'm so very sorry."_

_Amane frowned. "For what?"_

_"…for not saving you."_

_Amane looked surprised, and then her surprise turned to anger. "You're blaming yourself?! You're blaming yourself for my death! I don't believe you!"_

_"But I…"_

_"Stop it! I do not want to hear it." Amane said angry. "It was not your fault, and if you EVER say or even think so again, I will make you regret it!"_

_Amane growled and crossed her arms over her chest, breathing heavily and looked away from her brother. No one talked for some time. Ryou sat and listened to her breath getting calmer and calmer._

_"How is it?" Ryou said and broke the silence, making Amane look at him again. "How is it to really die?"_

_Amane frowned. "Well… I can't really describe it." She said and scratched her head. "In my case, it was… very chaotic at first, for just a few seconds… and then it was, very… extraordinary. I really can't describe it!" She shrugged. "But I'm pretty sure it's not the same for anyone." She looked at him with her head tilted._

_"What?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow._

_"Isn't it time for you to go back now?"_

_Ryou groaned. "Yes…" They both could tell, no use to denying it. "You know," He said, "all my friends must think I'm insane."_

"_No, they don't." She said firmly. "They are your friends, and they care about you very much." She smiled. "It's nice to know that you're in good hands…"_

_She raised her right hand and stroked his hair behind his ear with a sad smile. "Now… it's time for you to go."_

_And with that Ryou jumped off the railing._

--

White. That was all Ryou saw when he opened his eyes. He closed them again, wishing he was back with Amane. But although he focused hard he could not get away; he still smelled that disgusting smell of disinfectant and dry air. How he hated that smell. He could feel the tube under and in his nose, which was giving him oxygen. He could hear two people mumbling not far away from his bed.  
_'Yugi and Honda-kun?'_ Ryou thought when he recognized the voices.  
Ryou groaned as quietly as he could, he did not want his friends to know that he was awake yet. His head hurt like hell, but when he tried to raise his hands so he could touch his temples, he noticed to his horror that he could not lift his arms or his legs for that matter. He opened his eyes with a start and began to thrash about on the bed, trying to get his hands and legs free.  
Suddenly the two other boys in the room shouted and ran to his side.

"Ryou! Stop!" Honda exclaimed.

Yugi put his hands on Ryou's chest. "Please, Ryou, calm down!"

Ryou growled, but stopped to struggle and fell back down on the bed with a sigh. After a few minutes of silence, Ryou opened his mouth to speak.

"Why am I here?" He said, trying to sound as calm as possible.

Yugi and Honda glanced at each other. "You… you had some sort of seizure." Yugi quietly began. "We didn't know what to do, it was really scary to see you like that…"

"We called the ambulance," Honda continued. "they helped you and calmed you down, but you didn't wake up. They took you here then, to the hospital."

Ryou stared up at the ceiling. He could not remember what happened. _'They did something to me, They punished me for ignoring Them.'_ He closed his eyes. "Can I go home now?" He asked, fearing the answer.

"Um, Ryou-kun," Yugi began. "They said that it would be for the best if you stayed here a bit longer."

Anger flared up inside the white haired boy, and he glared at his friends. "Why did you take me here?" He growled. "Free me and let me leave."

"We can't do that, Ryou." Honda said firm but gently.

Ryou had had enough. "Get me out of here right now!" He yelled and struggled to get free again.

Just then the door opened and a woman with short brown hair came in. "My, my, what are you yelling at your friends for, Ryou-kun?" She said and calmly walked to the side of Ryou's bed. Ryou lay still and locked up on her. It was a face he knew, and who also knew him very well, knew him better than anyone alive. This woman was more like a friend really, instead of his psychiatrist.

"Masami-san…" He mumbled, and did not notice when Yugi and Honda left the room, closing the door behind them.

She smiled at him and started to open the buckles that held Ryou's hands and legs down. "Long time no see, dear Ryou." She said. "I haven't seen you for some time."

Ryou blushed a little and sat up against the pillows when Sanjo Masami had opened all the buckles.  
"I know..." He said and looked down on his hands that now lay in his lap.

"We're all been worried about you." She said, and sat down on the chair that stood beside the bed. "Your father has called me several times a day, asking about you."

Ryou looked up at her, surprised. "He has?"

"Yes, he always does." She said and smiled.

"Oh? He never bothered calling to me directly, though." Ryou said and crossed his arms.

"He has done that too. But you don't answer the phone, do you? At least not often." Ryou's silence answered her question.

"He is frightened. He does not know what he can do to make you feel better." She said.

Ryou did not look at her. He felt ashamed and guilty for leaving his father in the dark. There were so much his father has gone through too, and having an ill son who does not want to talk to him must hurt him.

"I… I… miss him sometimes." Ryou said slowly.

"He misses you too, dear Ryou." She said gently. "He has spoken to me many times about coming home to Japan, to see you."

Ryou's eyes widened and he looked up at her. Masami smiled and took his hand.

"Don't worry. I said I'll ask you first what you think about it." She said. "He loves you very much, Ryou. It would do both him and you good if you saw each other."

The white haired boy looked down on their clasped hands. "I… I would like to see him too." He said softly, surprising himself a little when he realized that he really meant what he said. "But… can you be with me when I see him?" He asked, feeling a bit silly that he needed someone with him to face his own father.

She smiled at him. "Of course, Ryou. I will not leave you."

TBC…

* * *

Review? Come on, don't be shy!


	9. Chapter 9

**Demons**

By: Eressie

**Chapter 9**

The grey sofa was comfortable enough, with soft a mattress and plenty of colourful pillows. Yet the white haired boy felt like he sat on hard wood with nails digging into his back. He sat very still with his legs crossed beneath him. His hands that lay upon them were clutching the fabric of his black jeans. Staring at the red haired troll that stood upon the television, he concentrated on breathing, slowly trying to calm his pounding heart. He licked his dry lips and took a deep breath as he moved his eyes from the cute troll to his wristwatch. 1:45 p.m… just fifteen minutes left. Soon Ryou Bakura would meet his father for the first time in over a year.  
Behind him he could hear Sanjo Masami, his psychologist, cleaning up and making tea in the kitchen-part of the room. Just as he was about to lie down the doorbell rang. Ryou held his breath and looked out into the hallway; he could see half the door from where he sat. He cast a quick glance at Masami, who smiled gently at him and went to open the door. Everything seamed to go in slow-motion as she opened the door and bid welcome to the person outside. She stepped aside and then Hisao Bakura stepped into the small apartment. Ryou stared at the tall, blue haired man who now stood with his back to him. Masami smiled at the newly arrival, took his hat and coat and hung them on the hooks beside the door. The tall man slowly turned around and he immediately spotted the tin, pale, white haired boy who was his son. He stood still, looking at Ryou with kind eyes. Hisao Bakura looked just as Ryou remembered him, although his beard was a bit longer and he looked a lot older even though he just saw him a year ago.

Ryou had been so mad at everyone then, and when he saw his father he had locked himself up in his room, refusing to talk to anyone. He did not know how to feel with his father so close to him, in able to control his emotions he needed to be alone. Hiding was the only thing he could think of. A week later, Hisao Bakura went away again (or escaping as his son would call it). Ryou did not go to see him off, not daring to face him again as he did a few days ago. They said good bye on the phone, and afterwards when they had hung up, Ryou cried.

The pale nineteen year old let his breath out that he had been holding and relaxed a little bit. He looked deep into his father's eyes and he thought that all he would see was disappointment and see him as a burden. But Ryou did not see anything of the sort in those brown eyes; instead he saw joy and relief, but also sorrow and weariness.  
Ryou did not know what to say to this man, his father. He opened his mouth but closed it again when no words came out. He lowered his head a little and thought back on when his world was fine. When there was much less pain and his family was whole and happy. He could feel tears in his eyes as he thought about it. His father and he had been the best of friends then too. He would like that again, yes, he would like that. He raised his eyes again and saw that his father approached him slowly with soft footsteps. Ryou did not move away, not even when his father sat down beside him. The blue haired one looked at Ryou with tears in his eyes and a small smile upon his lips. Ryou looked at him and without thinking of what he was doing he leaned forward towards his father and grabbed him in an almost bone crushing hug. Hisao did not hesitate to embrace him back with tears falling down his cheeks. Ryou felt just like a small child again and he sobbed into his father's dark grey shirt. Hisao held his son tightly against his chest, he was filled with joy and he was too relieved to say anything. He had tried so long; he had always wanted to help his hurting son. But Ryou had always pushed him away. Now, it seamed that Ryou finally accepted him again and that made him happier then he had been in many years.  
In the hallway nearby, stood Masami and leaned against the wall with a smile on her lips and a proud look in her eyes. She took one more look  
at them and then she backed away a bit to give them some privacy.

***

Some time later when both Ryou and his father had calmed down and dried their tears, they sat quietly together in Ryou's living room/ kitchen. Hisao sat in the armchair beside the sofa, were Ryou sat cross legged and looked down on his hands in his lap. Neither of them had said anything yet, no one knew how to start.  
Before them on the table stood two untouched cups of tea that Masami had given them, she now sat on a chair in the hallway reading a book. She had promised to be with Ryou when he met his father, and she has never broken a promise. To give the father and son some privacy, she sat down somewhere were they did not see her. But she never went far in case Ryou needed her.

Hisao looked at his son with eyes red from crying. He took in every inch of Ryou's appearance. His eyes wandered over Ryou's white, thick hair that reached his tin waist. His skin was pale as it always been, but now days it always was a sickly kind of paleness. His eyes, brown as Hisao's own, were hidden behind his eyelids and black eyelashes. Ryou wore a white sweatshirt with a black t-shirt under it. Hisao got sad; he knew how the skin looked under that fabric. A wave of helplessness washed over him as it had done so many times before, he knew he could do very little for Ryou but to be there for him. Hisao sighed.

"I am glad to see you again, Ryou." He said very softly.

Ryou lifted his head but avoided to look into his father's eyes, Ryou nodded. "I… I am glad to see you too, father."

Both of them become quiet and Hisao leaned forward and lifted up his cup of tea, he took a small sip with his eyes closed. Ryou took this opportunity to look more closely at his father. He had blue, thick hair in a ponytail, equally blue beard on a strong jaw. He was very tall, at least more than one head taller than Ryou. He was rather broad, much broader than Ryou's lean and tin body. His skin was tanned, looking very dark against Ryou's own skin.  
_'It's hard to see that we are related…' _Ryou thought. _'The only similarity between us is the colour off our eyes.'  
_Ryou quickly looked away again when Hisao opened his eyes again, but he did not look away fast enough. Hisao smiled a little and took another sip of his tea. He looked around the room they were currently sitting in. It looked very much the same as it had the last time he saw it over a year ago. The same grey, cosy sofa with a matching armchair that he was sitting in. The walls were green, and it was not much that decorated them. Just a few pictures hang here and there, pictures of their family. Of Ryou and him, and of his dear Amane and his beloved Katsumi. He felt new tears sting in his eyes as he watched the pictures. It has been about four years now since the accident that took his daughter and wife away from him. He sighed and pulled his gaze away from them, his eyes landed on the kitchen part of the room what were behind the sofa. It looked newly cleaned, _'Must be Masami-san...'_ It even had fresh flowers upon the square table. His eyes stayed on the flowers even when he could feel Ryou's eyes upon him again.

"Dad?" Ryou said softly.

Hisao remover his gaze from the flowers and looked at Ryou, who did not look away this time.

"Yes, Ryou?" He answered with a gentle look on his face.

"How long will you stay this time?" Ryou asked, trying not to show any emotions.

Hisao smiled. "As long as you want me to stay."

Ryou nodded a little, and then he frowned. "That about your job?"

The blue haired man smirked a little. "I've kind of taken a long holiday, Ryou. I won't leave."  
Ryou smiled a little, and they both become silent again.

Hisao looked down on his cup in his hands and then looked up again at Ryou. "I've heard that they took you to the hospital yesterday…"

Ryou did not look up. "Um… yeah."

Hisao looked at his son with concerned eyes. "How are things, Ryou?"

The white haired one stiffened a little and did not answer for a while, and then he shrugged and sighed a little. Hisao reached up and scratched his right cheek.

"How is…. Yugo and the others? You're still seeing them?"

Ryou looked up a little. "His name is Yugi, dad."

"Ah yes, Yugi was is." Hisao smiled. "You're getting along?"

Ryou did not answer right away, as if thinking things through. "Yes." He said at last. "I still see them… also they kind of know more things about me now."

"Really?" Hisao said, sounding thankful to hear it. "That's great, Ryou. Friends are wonderful things to have."

"Yes…" Said Ryou. "They're great…"

Hisao looked at him. "You don't sound very glad, Ryou."

Ryou snorted. "When am I ever glad, dad?" Sounding a little frustrated.

"Ah, sorry. I did not mean to make you angry." Hisao apologized.

"I am not angry." Ryou said and glared at his father. Ryou sighed, "I just…"

Hisao leaned forward a little. "Yes?"

"Ah, nothing!" Ryou said and stood up quickly. Without looking at his father he quickly walked out of the room.

"Ryou?" Masami asked and stood up as she saw Ryou.

The white haired boy did not listen, and he did not even look at Masami as he passed her and rushed to his bedroom and locked the door behind him.  
Masami looked at the closed door and then she went inside the living room/kitchen were Hisao still was. He stood leaning against the back of the sofa when she came in, his arms were crossed over his chest and he looked down on the floor with a frown.

"That went rather well I think." She said softly.

"Yeah," He said with a sigh, he reached up and rubbed his face with both his hands.

"Give him time, Hisao-san." She said and patted him gently on the shoulder. "He has already taken a big step today." She smiled.

Hisao smiled at her. "My son is very strong, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is very strong, Hisao-san. You can be proud of him."

He smiled at her and walked out to the hallway so he could see Ryou's closed bedroom door, he leaned against the wall. "I am, Masami-san, I am."

Inside his bedroom Ryou sat on the window frame and glared hard into the wall were his bed stood at. He felt angry, he felt angry at everything but mostly at himself.

"Why must everything be so frustrating?!" He growled and jumped up from were he sat, he began kicking and hitting the nearest wall as hard as he could. He continued with this until he became unable to stand up. He fell down on the floor beside his bed, breathing fast. He lifted his hands over his head so he could see them, they were bleeding a little. He had punched the wall so hard that he had broken the skin on his hands. His feet had suffered much the same treatment. He lowered his arms again, and looked up at the roof. Tears began to sting in his eyes so he closed them and bit down hard on his lip.

_**'Weak...'  
**_  
Ryou opened his eyes wide, and then he rolled over to his side into a foetus position. "No… no…" He whimpered.

_**'Pathetic…'** _The demons hissed, _**'Filthy whore!'**_ They laughed as Ryou sobbed and closed his eyes tightly shut with his hands pressed against his ears.

_**'Were does it hurt, Ryou?' **_They taunted. _'**Here?' **_Ryou felt like something cold and heavy sat down on his chest and then reached inside him and grabbed hold on his heart. Ryou could not breathe, and so he gasped for air. "D… d… dad." He whimpered.

The demons laughed. _**'Oh, what was that? The unclean one begging for help?'** _They hissed, their voices reminded one of nails scratching across the black board. Ryou cringed and shook his head.

_**'You want to get free from pain, little one?'**_ Ryou gasped and nodded. _**'Cut it out, germ! Open your skin and let if free!'** _They hissed._ **'And it will bother you no more.'**_ Ryou gasped again, but reached across the floor, under the bed and grabbed a razorblade that he knew lay there. And then he did exactly what the demons told him to do.

* * *

Author's note:  
I'm guessing there are a lot of mistakes in my writing, especially grammar ones. And I think I might mix British English and American English too.  
Sorry, but English is not my mother tongue!  
**Review please! Let me know what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

Demons

Chapter 10 

Soft breathing was the only sound that could be heard in Ryou's room. The nineteen year old boy lay motionless on the floor, just breathing. His arms were sprawled out on either side of him. The wounds upon them had stopped bleeding and he was starting to feel the pain, but Ryou did not care and he dared not to move. He just listened to his own breathing and stared blankly up at the ceiling, it was not often he felt such calm he felt right now.  
He blinked slowly and took another deep breath. He found it strange that his body even was capable of feeling so relaxed anymore. Outside his bedroom he could hear Sanjo Masami and his father talking softly to each other, the mumbling he heard though the door relaxed him even more even though he did not know what they were talking about. He smiled a little, a real smile for once. And he felt joy in his chest for the first time in a very long time. Ryou did not know why he felt this way, but he did not have the strength to ponder of this much. Right now he felt relaxed, lazy and quite happy to just lay there. He continued to listen to his breathing, feeling how the air went in and out from his lungs. He took another deep breath and turned his head a little to his right, there stood his mirror on the floor. He looked into the mirror and a pale, thin boy looked back at him. He had dark circles under his eyes and his hair seamed to have lost its lustre. Ryou had always been lean, but now he was so... thin, he was just skin and bones. He frowned, when was the last time he had really looked at himself in a mirror?

'_Is that really me?_' He thought. He stared into his own face, feeling disgusted of himself. He looked so ugly and so weak. "A pathetic waste of skin." He mumbled and looked away from the mirror with a sigh.

He shut his eyes and took a few deep breaths in order to calm down, trying to block out all his negative thoughts. A few minutes passed before he opened his eyes again. He felt numb, both in body and in mind. His usual chaos that frequently existed in his head seemed to be more distant. He looked up to his left a little so he could see out through the window. The sky was bright and blue, some birds flew past and he could see one small cloud from were he lay. The brightness made Ryou's eyes sting a little but he did not look away.

'_Mother always loved the sky…'_ He smiled a little sadly as he thought of her. _'Especially at night when the stars were up…'_ His smile disappeared as he heard knocking on his bedroom door. He turned his head to look at the door.

"Ryou?" He heard his father say. "Can I come in?"

Ryou frowned. Should he let his father come in? He lay sprawled on the floor with new wounds and dried blood on his arms and floor. Should he let his father see him like this? He bit his lip and frowned. His father waited patiently on the other side of the door as Ryou decided what to answer. Ryou took another deep breath and sat up. "Come in." He said with an abnormal calm voice.

Ryou watched as the door opened and the blue haired man slowly walked into the room but stopped short when he saw his son sitting on the floor, with new wounds on his damaged arms. Ryou did not say anything; he waited for his father to get hysterical at the sight of his son's blood. Ryou bravely looked up at his father but the white haired boy could not read the emotion in the other's eyes. Instead of being hysterical as Ryou had thought he would be, he just stood still for a moment before turning and walking out from the room.

Ryou felt tears welling up in his eyes. _'He is ashamed of me. He hates me…'_ He pulled his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around them; he laid his head in his arms and closed his eyes. He hugged his legs and kept his eyes closed tightly as he felt tears welling up behind his eyelids. He heard noises outside his room but he did not care what it was or who made them. He soon heard someone walking up to him and placing something on the floor beside him. He lifted his head a little and glanced up to see his father who sat down beside him. Ryou turned his head the other way and looked out though the window again. Soon he felt his father lay a hand on his right arm and when Ryou did not pull away, his father lifted it up and held it in his large hand. Ryou shifted a little but did not look at the other. He heard something being dipped in water, probably a towel, a few times and then lifted and squeezed so the water dripped down into the bowl. Soon he felt the towel upon his arm and his father started to gently clean the dried blood from his arm. Ryou did not say anything and he did not move, he let his father do as he wished. The water stung a little in his wounds and Ryou winced. His father probably noticed because he was even gentler after that.  
Ryou dried his tears with his free hand and then he slowly turned to look at his father. He lay his head back down on his knees as he watched his father finishing cleaning his arm. Hisao then picked up a white jar that Ryou recognised. It was a cream that both sterilised and helped wounds to heal; Ryou had used it many times. After Hisao had put the cream on his wounds, he picked up a rolled up bandage and started to wrap it around Ryou's thin arm. As soon Hisao was done with the right arm, he immediately starting the same treatment on the other.

Ryou silently watched him the whole time, and he studied his father's face. He had a few more wrinkles now, Ryou noticed, and a few white hairs decorated his father's blue hair. He was as handsome as ever even though he was starting to age. Ryou smiled a little and his father moved his gaze from the arm he was treating, to the calm face of his son. He had seen Ryou smiling in the corner of his eye, but he had thought that he had imagined it so he had to look Ryou in the eye to confirm what he saw. Ryou smiled a little wider when he saw the surprised face of his father. Hisao blinked a few times before smiling back at his son. He reached out with his left hand and gently stroked the right side of Ryou's face, the gentle and loving gesture made Ryou close his eyes for a short moment. When his father removed his hand and started to wrap his son's arm with another bandage, Ryou turned his head and looked up at the sky through the window again. Hisao secured the bandage and sat down more comfortable on the floor by Ryou's side, he followed Ryou's gaze out the window.

Hisao smiled a little sadly. "Your mother always loved the sky." He said.

Ryou nodded. "I know."

"Do you remember that time when your mom and I brought you and your sister up to the roof one evening?" He asked with a fond smile.

Ryou nodded again. "Yes, I remember… we watched the stars." He said with a smile. "Amane and I were about seven, right?"

"Yes," Hisao answered. "But soon your sister was more interested in trying to balance on the edge of the roof instead of searching for star signs." He chuckled.

Ryou grinned. "And she managed to persuade you to let her balance on the edge too. But you held on to her to whole time, even though she was doing quite fine on her own."

"Yes, stubborn child she was." Hisao said and nodded.

"Good thing her parents are equally stubborn then," Ryou said, and then he remembered the arguments that they had had in the past. "Or maybe that might be a bad thing as well." He said and smiled. He took a deep breath and looked up at the sky again. "I miss them." He whispered.

Hisao looked down on the floor a second. "I miss them too." He said. "So very much." He looked at Ryou and lifted one hand to stroke a strand of white hair behind Ryou's ear. "Would you like to accompany me to visit them tomorrow?" He asked.

Ryou looked at him and nodded a little. "I'd like that."

Both grew quiet as they continued to sit on the floor and watching the sky. Soon they heard a soft knocking on the doorframe and both of them turned to look at Sanjo Masami who stood there with a soft smile on her face.

"Will you two be all right without me here, Ryou-kun?" She asked.

Ryou hesitated at first but nodded. Masami gave him a smile and Ryou could not help to smile back. "We're visiting mom and Amane tomorrow." Ryou said.

Masami nodded. "Say hi from me will you?"

"I will." Ryou said softly.

Masami nodded to both of them and gave them a small wave with her hand. "See you soon, Ryou." She smiled. "Don't forget what we talked about, Bakura-san." And with that she turned away and disappeared from sight.

The white haired boy heard her soft footsteps as she walked away and he heard how she opened and closed the front door. His father stood up from the floor and collected the dirty towel and the bowl of water. He walked a few steps towards the door before turning and looking down on Ryou.

"Would you like to eat something, Ryou?"

Ryou looked up at him. He did not feel very hungry; he never did nowadays even though he barely eats anything at all. Ryou knew that his father would not be pleased to hear him say no, so he nodded and his father smiled at him and walked out of the bedroom. _'I guess I could try to eat something…'_ He thought to himself.

He heard his father getting rid of the bloody water in the bathroom and Ryou heard him washing up the towel he used to clean Ryou's wound with. As soon as was done in the bathroom and went to the kitchen, Ryou stood up and walked slowly to the bathroom. There he washed his face in the sink and he avoided looking at himself in the mirror as he dried his face with a clean towel. He picked up a thin leather rope that lay on the sink next to the soap, and he tied his long hair into a lose ponytail before exiting the bathroom and walking to his living room/kitchen.  
He lightly touched the wall with his bony fingers as he walked, when he came to the kitchen he saw his father looking into the refrigerator. Hisao turned a little when he saw Ryou standing in the doorway.

"Not much to choose from here." He said and closed the refrigerator door. He then reached up and opened the small fridge that stood on top of the refrigerator. "Hmm, we need to go shopping soon if we want a decent meal." He said and closed the door. He looked at Ryou again with a raised eyebrow. The white haired boy put his hands into his pockets and looked up at his father.

"Um... there are some cans in there." He said and nodded to the kitchen cabinets. His father opened one of them and took out one of the cans he found in there.

"Hmm, vegetable soup." He shrugged. "This will do." He mumbled to himself. The blue haired man opened up the can and poured the contents into a pot and put it on the stove.

"What do you usually eat, son?" He said and turned around. He leaned back against the stove with his arms crossed over his chest. Ryou shrugged and went to sit down on the sofa. Hisao followed him with his eyes and then he frowned a little and looked down on the floor.

"When…when was the last time you ate, Ryou?" He asked softly, almost afraid to get an answer.

Ryou turned around so he could see his father. He leaned forward on the back support of the sofa and laid his arms on it. "I don't know, a day ago or so maybe." He said and put his head down carefully on his arms, he did not care about the pain he felt as his head pressed down on the new wounds.

Hisao sighed and then his eyes landed on Ryou's damaged arms. Even though bandage covered a part of them he could still see countless of scars, both old and new. He closed his eyes and raised his left hand to massage his forehead. When he lowered it again and lifted his head a little, he saw that Ryou still watched him. No one said anything and Hisao could smell in the air that the soup was starting to get ready.

It was an awkward silence that hung in the air. Ryou began to fiddle the textile on the sofa, he watched as his father turned around and stirred the soup with a spoon. Hisao did not turn around again and Ryou guessed that he stood looking down in to the pot. The pale boy stared at his father's back. The two of them used to be so close when Ryou was young. It seamed to him to be such a long time ago now, far out of reach. _'Can we ever have that again?' _Ryou wondered. _'Could we be happy?'_ He sighed again and changed position so he now sat cross legged on the sofa. He decided that he needed to say something, anything that would kill the silence.  
"You got quite a boring job you know."

His father jumped a little as he got interrupted from his thoughts. He turned around and looked at his son. "What?"

"Your job." Ryou said. "It's boring."

Hisao raised an eyebrow. "Really? That was not what you thought when you were younger." He said. "You used to love to hear about the travels I made and about the things I discovered."

Ryou nodded a little. "Maybe I did…" He said. "You still like it?"

"My job?" Hisao asked.

"Yes, you still like it." Ryou asked again.

Hisao hesitated before answering. "I do." He said. "I like it a lot." Ryou nodded. "But there are more important things in this world than working." Hisao said with a smile.

Ryou looked at him. "Like what?"

"Like you, my family." Hisao said.

"...oh." Ryou looked down on his hands that now lay in his lap. "If family was more important to you than your job, why were you working so much? You were often away."

"I thought that you were okay with it. I tried not to travel far from our home, what way it would be easier to go back home again." Hisao answered. "Sometimes though, I had to make much longer trips."

Ryou bit lower lip, he did not look up. "I didn't like it." He said. "I didn't like it when you were away."

Hisao looked at him with a pained look in his eyes. "I did not like to be apart from you either." He said. "Even if it often were for short periods of time, I would still miss you like crazy."

"You didn't work as much when mom and Amane died." Ryou said suddenly.

Hisao took the pot of soup from the stove and poured it down into two deep plates. "No, I did not. Losing them… it was hard." He said and put the plates on the table and he also but two glasses of water and spoons on the table. "I did not work for quite some time after that. I refused to be apart from you too, you were the only one I had left."

"Were you only with me because you've lost them?" Ryou asked, trying not to show any emotions on his face.

"No! No, Ryou. How can you say that?" Hisao exclaimed and walked to the sofa; he sank down and stood on his knees on the floor so he looked Ryou in the eyes. "I love you, Ryou, surely you must know that?" Ryou did not look at him. "You mean so much for me, son, you're the only thing that keeps me going." Hisao raised his arms and put his hands on either side of Ryou's face, he stroked one of Ryou's cheeks with his thumb. "I love you so much, Ryou." Hisao said and smiled when Ryou finally looked at him in the eyes.

The nineteen year old swallowed and nodded. "I…I love you too, dad."

Hisao's smile widened and he drew Ryou into an embrace, Ryou hugged him back and laid his head on his father's right shoulder. He smiled a little; it felt good to be in his father's arms like this. He felt warm and secure and life somehow seamed a little less terrible and painful. He did not want to let go, this day was actually the best day he had known for a while. Even thought it had started quite bad. He felt his father chuckle and Ryou draw back from him, looking up at Hisao in confusion.

"Food is getting cold." He said and rustled Ryou's hair, just as he used to do when Ryou was a child. "We better eat it, don't you think? You certainly need it."

He got up and sat down by the kitchen table. Ryou got up from the sofa and did the same. He frowned a little as he looked down at his bowl of soup. He did not think that he had any appetite to eat it, he slowly looked up at his father who gave him a look that said; you better eat that or I will make you. _'Well, he certainly is as stubborn as he used to be…_' Ryou thought. He took a spoon of soup and put it into his mouth. He swallowed as quickly as he could and glanced at his father who looked back at him while eating his own soup. Ryou sighed and ate another spoon of soup.

"I'm going shopping after this." Hisao said. "I will make a proper meal later today."

Ryou groaned. "More food?"

"This can hardly be called food; it will not keep us full for long!" Hisao said. "We don't even have any bread to eat with the soup."

Ryou frowned. "I don't like bread."

"No bread at all?" His father asked.

"None." Ryou said and looked down at his plate again. He thought the soup looked like something someone had thrown up and then mixed with water. He poked one of the many carrots with his spoon and made a grimace. He heard his father clear his throat across the table. With another grimace he took another spoon of soup and stared at it as it were poison. He glanced up at his father who sat there with a stern look upon his face. Ryou sighed deeply; this was going to take a while.

* * *

Please Review! :D

Sorry for any mistakes I probably have done, and sorry for the wait! I hope you liked this chapter!  
Now I'm off to bed! It's 2:38 a.m. and I am so tired I almost see double haha. It's been a busy day being my country's national day and all!  
Now click on the review button below and give a starving writer some nourishment! XD


	11. Chapter 11

**Demons**

By: Eressie

Disclaimer: I don't own Yo-Gi-Oh…

* * *

Chapter 11

"It's funny…" Ryou said. "Time I mean."

Hisao Bakura, who kneeled before the gravestones brushing away dirt and fallen leaves, looked up at his son as he spoke.

"Most of the time it goes really slow and sometimes really fast… sometimes so fast I don't remember much of it. But maybe that's just me being a little… dizzy." Ryou said, he used the word dizzy for the time he lost when he was being unconscious or just too paralyzed to even move or acknowledge time.

Hisao picked up the flowers they had bought on the way here, and he placed them in the empty stone vases that stood beside each gravestone.

"It's seams so… recently since they went away." Ryou said with a frown and touched Amane's stone lightly with his fingertips. "How long has it been, dad?"

Hisao tried to swallow the lump he felt in his throat as he laid his hand on his wife's gravestone. "Four years, Ryou. Four long years."

Ryou sat down on the ground beside his father. "The pain is still fresh…" The white haired boy whispered.

Hisao closed his eyes and nodded slightly. "Yes," His voice was a little hoarse.

Ryou looked down on the flowers. "People say that it gets better with time, that the sorrow sort of fades away." He frowned again. "...when will it start to fade for us?"

Hisao sighed and opened his eyes. "People deal with grief in different ways and everyone takes different time to heal from their loss."

"I don't really want to heal from the loss, as you say… it would feel like I don't love them anymore." Ryou said. "But I wish the grief could get a bit easier at least."

Hisao looked at Ryou. "Just because we heal, does not mean we won't love them anymore, Ryou."

The white haired boy nodded. "Yes I know… but it feels that way."

Silence fell between them and Hisao could not help thinking that it had been so close in the past for him to lose another family member. Ryou had been so near death so many times all ready and Hisao's hands shook very badly every time he thought about it. He still did not know how someone could decide to take their own life. He himself could never do it, no matter how hard life got for him.  
He glanced at Ryou who had begun tracing Amane's name on the gravestone with his forefinger. He looked then on Ryou's arms, as he had many times before. Ryou had not bothered with taking a long armed shirt or sweater today, but his father kind of hoped that he would. The wounds and scars on his son's body was a constant reminder of the bad things that had happened to Ryou in the past and how bad he felt because of those things. He just wished that all of Ryou's pain would just fly away and never come back. Silly though really, but he just did not want his beloved son to suffer so.

"Dad?" Ryou said suddenly.

Hisao looked at him. "Yes Ryou?"

"What are you thinking about?"

"Many things, mostly about you." He said with a small smile.

"Me?" Ryou wondered and tilted his head.

"Yes." Hisao nodded. "I think very often of you, Ryou, you are very important to me after all. It would be very strange indeed if you did not occupy my thoughts every now and then."

Ryou actually smirked. "I think about you sometimes too."

"Oh you do, do you?" Hisao said and stood up. "What is it about me that you think about then?" He said and offered a hand towards his still sitting son.

"About the new grey hairs on your head." He said and smirked again as he took his father's hand and let the blue haired man pull him to his feet.

"Hey! I don't have any gray hairs!" Exclaimed Hisao and felt surprised and happy that his son was joking around with him.

"No?" Smiled Ryou. "What is this then?" He asked and touched on of his father's temples, where the were indeed some grey hairs.

"That's not grey hair, my hair have always looked like thus. When I was a small child too!" Hisao answered with a smile and pulled away his head from his son's teasing fingers.

"Sure it was!" Ryou said and laughed.

And Hisao did not think he had heard anything sweeter in his whole life.

----

It was over five hours since Ryou had locked himself into his room, his father had several times tried to speak to him but he barely got any answers back. Hisao was scared of what Ryou might do to himself in there, but at least he had not heard any sounds of Ryou doing anything. When he tried to spy through the keyhole he saw half of Ryou, and he was just sitting there staring right ahead. Hisao was nervous and called Sanjo Masami once asking what to do and he had tried every advice she gave him and now he felt quite helpless.

"Ryou?" He called again and knocked softly on the door. "Do you want to come out and eat something?"

No answer. Hisao sighed and leaned against the door with both of his hands. He could not understand this; Ryou had seamed fine earlier today. Why this isolation all of the sudden? What may have caused this?

"Ryou," He said again. "I am in the kitchen if you want anything okay? I can bring you some food if you like." He waited for an answer but when he received none, he slowly started to walk towards the kitchen massaging his neck with one hand as he went.

On the other side of the door, the first silent tears fell from Ryou's eyes. He lifted one trembling hand and wiped some of them away from his face.  
Before him, by the wall on the other side of the room, sat a fifteen year old girl. She had dyed turquoise hair and some colourful glass beads were hanging on a string from it. She sat with her knees pulled up and her arms around them just as Ryou sat. She had a white blouse and grey, worn out jeans on. The girl was barefoot and her nails were painted pink. She lifter her hand, the same as Ryou had lifted just moments before and stroke a lock of hair away from her face.

She smiled at him. "Are you not going to say anything?"

Ryou swallowed and opened his mouth a few times before answering. "You… changed your hair."

She giggled. "Yes you know me," she said. "My hair changes a lot."

He nodded a little. "Yes, I remember that."

Silence fell between them and she suddenly stood up from where she sat. "Father is worried about you, you know." She said as she began to walk around the small room to look at Ryou's stuff.

Ryou finally stopped staring at her and lowered his gaze. "I know…"

"Why do you worry him so, Ryou?" He asked and tilted her head as she looked at some torn wallpaper in the corner.

"I… don't mean to." He said. "He should not worry so much, not over me!" He said with a frown.

She turned her head and looked at him. "Why should he not worry? He cares about you."

He scratched one the scabs on the top of his left hand and shrugged a little. "I don't know why he cares, I guess he must because I'm his son and all… he must see me as a burden."

Amane frowned and walked over to him and kneeled before him. "He does not think you as a burden, he loves you!"

"…he says he does." He mumbled. "Do you think he meant it when he said it?" He asked and looked up at her.

"Yes." She said seriously. No one spoke for a while and Amane moved a little so she sat beside him by the wall.

Ryou lay down his head on his arms. "I visited your and mom's graves today." He said, his voice sounded a little muffled.

She smiled. "I know. It has been some time since you where there last time."

Ryou nodded a little and Amane looked at him sternly. "You're not thinking about joining us soon are you?"

Ryou shrugged again. "I don't know…. No, I don't think so."

"Good." She said. "I would never forgive you if you did."

He raised his head. "You wouldn't?"

"No." She shook her head. "And haven't I told you before; to live for me?" She said and smiled. "So live."

Ryou frowned. "I… don't know how."

"Sure you do, brother. You're just a little forgetful that's all. It's time you remembered how life supposed to be."

"How am I to do that?" He asked and suddenly he heard knocking on the door.

"Ryou?" Said his father on the other side of the door. "Who are you talking to?"

Ryou frowned and looked beside him but Amane was gone already. He sighed, "No one, dad."

"Oh… all right." Hisao said and stood silent for a moment. "Anything I can do for you, son?"

Ryou shook his head. "No." He mumbled and stood up. He went to the bed and barely heard his father as he continued talking through the door. Ryou sank down on the bed feeling exhausted and he was just on the edge of sleep when his father started to pound fiercely at the door.

"Ryou!" Hisao shouted. "Ryou, can you hear me?!"

"Yes dad." Ryou replied annoyed. "I'm going to sleep now, I'm tired."

Hisao stilled his movements and let out a shaking breath. "You're okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine!" Ryou called irritated. "I'm going to sleep okay?"

"The clock is not even eight yet, are you sure you're-"

"Yes, I'm fine!" Ryou shouted and sat up. "Stop treating me like a damn baby!"

Hisao fell silent on the other side of the door and Ryou almost thought he had walked away until he heard a quiet voice.  
"Okay… good night then, Ryou." He said and Ryou could hear him walk away towards the kitchen/living room.

Ryou growled and hit the wall with his left hand before he lay down again on his back. He frowned up at the roof and breathed hard. He closed his hands into fists and dug the nails painfully into his palms. He growled again and unwrapped the bandages on his arms and he angrily started to scratch at the new wounds until they hurt and bled. He could feel tears in his eyes so he angrily wiped them away with his hands, and accidently smeared some of the blood onto his face. He turned around and buried his face in his pillow, trying to calm down.  
Two hours later he was finally able to fall asleep.

* * *

Review please!


	12. Chapter 12

**Demons**

Chapter 12

.

By: Eressie

Disclaimer: ...I don't own Yo-Gi-Oh!

* * *

Ryou woke up with a jerk, breathing hard. He was covered in sweat and his clothes were sticking to his body as a second skin. He looked around in panic, not realising where he was at fist. He gulped hard and raised a shaking hand to his sweaty forehead.

_'It was just a dream.'_ He though with relief.

He slowly rose from bed and his legs shook from the effort, he turned on the lights and squinted his eyes from the brightness. He cast an eye on his clock and he frowned when he realised it was five o'clock in the morning. Even though he was exhausted, he did not dare to go back to bed. He feared he would fall asleep and get that horrible nightmare again. No, he rather be awake.  
He went and opened his door and peaked out, nothing there. He heard his father's deep snoring as he went to the kitchen/living room. Sprawled out on his back over the sofa lay his father, deeply asleep. Ryou looked at him for a moment; he could not remember the last time since he last saw his father sleep. He crept a little bit closer so he could get a better view of his father's face.  
Hisao Bakura slept with his long hair loose and it floated out over the pillow. He had removed his glasses and they lay on the table beside him, along with a book and his wrist-watch. His face was relaxed and his mouth was slightly open. Ryou tilted his head and tried to close his father's mouth with his hand, testing if that would stop the snoring. It did not, if anything it made the snoring worse. Ryou sighed when the noise became louder and he went over to the sink. He poured some cold water into a clean glass and took a sip. He walked to the nearest window and looked out. It was starting to brighten outside but it was still too early to see any activity from anyone.

_'Most of them are probably still asleep…'_ Ryou thought and drank the rest of the water.

He put the glass back on the sink and stretched. His body felt stiff and restless, he bit down on his lip in thought and cast a glance at his front door. It was tempting to go outside for a walk, he probably would not meet anyone so early either. He made up his mind and grabbed a red shirt that hung on one of the hooks by the door. He put the shirt on and grabbed his sneakers, he carefully unlocked the door and went out. Trying to make as little noise as possible; when it came to the sounds of opening and closing doors, his father had ears like a fox. How Hisao did not wake from his own snoring, was something that was beyond Ryou.  
Ryou yawned as he walked out from the building. It was not particular cold outside but Ryou felt a chill go through his body anyway. Ryou frowned and wondered if maybe something bad was about to happen, but the chill disappeared as quickly as it came and he ignored that feeling of forebode as he started to walk.

----

Hisao Bakura woke by the ringing of the telephone, he quickly rose from the sofa; feeling a little disorientated. The phone kept ringing, so he went and picked it up.

"Hello?" He answered with a tired yawn.

"Bakura-san?" A gentle voice in the phone asked.

"Yes, that's me," Hisao said and leaned a little against the wall. "Who is this?"

"It's Yugi Mutou, sir. Ryou's friend."

"Ah, yes. I know who you are, Yugi-kun. Ryou has spoken about you." Hisao said with a smile.

"Um, is Ryou-kun awake yet, Bakura-san?" Yugi asked. "I thought that; well, it is nine o'clock right now and I thought that maybe he was up."

Hisao looked over to Ryou's closed bedroom door. "I shall go and look, Yugi-kun."

"You-you don't have to wake him if he's still asleep." Yugi stuttered and widened his eyes. "I just… I just wanted to know if he's okay."

Hisao smiled. "You are a good friend, Yugi-kun."

On the other part of the phone, Yugi blushed and did not say anything. He could hear Hisao open a door and Yugi guessed that it was Ryou's bedroom door. He could hear a muffled voice of Hisao as he said Ryou's name.  
Yugi bit down on his lip and he hoped that Ryou was okay. He waited for a while but Hisao did not speak into the phone for some time, as if he had forgotten about the three coloured haired boy.

"Um, Bakura-san?" He said, hoping that Hisao held the phone close enough to his ear so he could hear Yugi. He got no answer, so he called out for Hisao again.

A startled Hisao answered back. "Ah, I'm sorry, Yugi-kun." He said and Yugi could hear that he sounded a little worried.

"Bakura-san, is everything all right with Ryou-kun?" He asked and held the telephone harder with his hand.

"Yugi-kun, I… he's not in his room." Hisao told him, and Yugi could hear him walking around when he checked the rest of the small apartment.

"He's not here," came the final answer from Hisao.

Yugi frowned. "Oh…w-where do you think he is?"

Hisao sighed. "I don't know. Maybe he went for a walk or something, I shall see if I can get hold of him."

"Okay," nodded Yugi. "If you do, can you let him know that I've called?"

"Sure, Yugi-kun, I will."

"Bye, Bakura-san."

"Goodbye, Yugi-kun." Hisao said and lay down the phone. He went to his bag and searched for his mobile phone. He had given Ryou a mobile phone through the mail a while back and he desperately hoped that Ryou had it with him right now. He found Ryou's number on his phone and rang it, crossing his fingers.

In the park, Ryou sat cross-legged on the grass behind a bench, his gaze was blank as he stared into the air. He had a small gash on his left knee and a scrape on his right palm, from falling over when he tripped over the edge of the pavement.  
All of the sudden a ringing noise woke him up from his trance, he looked around in confusion. No one was near him except for an old homeless woman with long, white hair, four benches away from him. And Ryou doubted that she owned a mobile phone of her own. He looked down on the breast pocket of his red shirt that he had grabbed on the way out. He had only used the phone once since he had gotten it from his father, he had forgotten that he even had one. He picked it up and flipped it open.

"Hello?" He answered.

"Ryou!" A voice sighed with relief and Ryou realised that it was his father. "Where are you? Are you okay?"

Ryou frowned. "Sure," he said. "I'm fine, dad. I only went for a walk."

"Couldn't you have left a note or something?"

"What are you so mad about?" Ryou asked and frowned at his father's annoyed voice.

"I was worried, Ryou!" he said, "I woke up and you were gone, you can't just disappear like that!"

"I didn't disappear; I just went for a walk!" Ryou growled.

"Ok, ok…" sighed Hisao and tried to calm down, "can you come home now?"

"No." Ryou answered simply.

"What? Why?"

"Because I don't want to, that's why." Ryou answered and picked up a small twig that he tried to throw at the tree that stood before him.

"Are you still mad at me?" Hisao asked carefully.

Ryou threw another twig. "No."

"Then… why do you sound so mad now?"

Ryou groaned. "I don't know..."

"Ryou," Hisao said gently. "Why don't you come home so we can talk?"

"We are talking now, aren't we?"

"Yes, but I think we need a more serious talk, eye to eye." Hisao said and rubbed his eyes.

"I'm not coming home-"

"Why not?"

"Dad," Ryou sighed, "I'll be home later, all right? Just not now, please! I… I need some time alone."

Hisao paused a moment before answering. "…all right," he said silently, "but be home at noon at least. Okay, Ryou?"

Ryou chewed on his tongue. "Okay, dad." He said and hung up without another word.

He lowered his arm and laid down his mobile phone on the grass beside him. He sighed and rubbed his face with both his hands. As he stretched out his legs and looked to his left, he saw that the old homeless woman slowly walked towards where he sat; leaning heavily on her cane. He quickly looked away, his gaze focused instead on his feet before him. The woman came closer and sat down on the bench, the one Ryou sat behind, with a heavy sigh. She did not say anything and Ryou nervously turned around a little and glanced at her.

"My name is Jenna," she said with a warm voice. Ryou could hear a hint of an accent, of some sort, when she spoke.

Ryou hesitated but decided to be polite. "I'm Ryou."

"Ryou, eh?" she said. "Nice name."

Ryou scratched at the torn parts on his trousers, as silence grew between them. He looked up and saw that her long hair fell down over the back of the bench, touching his own. "You, um, are not from here?" He asked.

"The park?" She grinned. "No, I believe I'm not. But this is a nice place."  
Ryou smiled a little and waited a moment before rising. He sat down on the bench beside Jenna and she beamed at him.

"Why, boy, your hair is just as white as mine." she said with a smile.

Ryou smiled back a little. "Yes, but I guess that you're a little bit older."

She chuckled. "Hmm, yes maybe a little," she said with a nod, "a year or two perhaps."

"Yeah, that's sounds about right." Ryou said with a nod and looked down on his hands in his lap.

"Or maybe you're the one who's older, boy." She said and looked at him. "Your heart is greatly burdened."

Ryou remained silent and continued to look down on his hands. The old lady beside him smiled and started to search for something in her inner pocket. She found what she was looking for and held out a small plastic bag; that looked like it was full of bread crumbles.

"Would you like to feed the pidgins with me, boy?" She asked with a smile.

Ryou looked up at her and then looked around. "There are no pidgins here, Jenna-san."

Jenna waved her free hand as if she tried to wave away the 'san' after her name. "Maybe there are and maybe there aren't." She said.

Ryou raised an eyebrow and reached over to take a handful of crumbles. He leaned forward and sprinkled the crumbles on the ground. She smiled at him and did the same. Ryou leaned back on the bench and watched Jenna's thin hands drop the many small pieces of bread on the ground. Not long after, a grey pidgin landed near Ryou's feet and started to feed of the crumbled. Ryou's eyes widened and soon more pidgins came and joined the first.

"Hungry little things, they are." Jenna said and chuckled.

Ryou smiled and sprinkled the rest of his bread crumbles to the birds. "How did you know that they would come?" Ryou asked.

"Ha, they always come." she exclaimed. "Nothing in the world goes up for something as scrumptious as bread crumbles, after all," she said and then she added with a smile; "and good company."

Ryou looked at her. "Not many dare to speak to you?" He asked carefully.

She shook her head. "No, and I don't blame them. There are not many that I dare to speak to either, except for my friends."

Ryou tilted his head. "How come you dare to speak to me then?"

She smiled. "I saw a friend."

Ryou blushed and looked down on the pidgins. "You don't want to be friends with me, Jenna-san," he whispered. "I don't think that I'm a very good one."

"Why not?" She asked and took out another bag with bread crumbles in it.

"I…I don't think that I have talked to my friends in days," he said with a frown. "And they try to help me so much, they give and they give," he paused, "and I never give anything back to them."

"Hmm?" She said and gave more bread to the birds. "I don't think that's true."

Ryou looked up at her; tears could be seen in his eyes. "You don't?"

"No," She shook her head. "I might not have known you for very long, but in this short time you have given me very much indeed." She said and offered him more crumbles to give to the birds.

He slowly took some crumbles from the bag and one tear fell down his cheek. "I have?" He whispered, so quietly that he believed that she might not have heard him.

She smiled down at the pidgins as she threw them some more bread. "A real friend is a rare and precious thing to have," she whispered, "not everyone is so lucky to have one..."

Ryou looked at her in silence, tears still streaming down his pale cheeks. He knew now that she did not have any friends of her own. _'She must be very lonely…'_ Ryou thought.

She chuckled beside him and tried to cheer herself up. She put the empty bag back into her inner pocket and pulled out a piece of cloth.  
She dabbed Ryou's wet cheeks with it. "Come now, dear boy. No more tears." She said with a smile and lifted Ryou's chin up with her bony fingers.

Ryou smiled and took her thin hand in his likewise thin one. "Thank you." He whispered.

"No worries." She said with a gentle smile, the wind brew through her snow white hair and she squeezed Ryou's hand in a quiet goodbye. "Now, I believe I'm almost late with my meeting with Queen Margrethe II of Denmark." She grinned and stood up with the help of her cane, the pidgins flew away from them as she stood.

Ryou also stood up. "And I believe that I have some more walking to do."

Jenna nodded. "It was nice talking to you, old chum." She smiled.

"Likewise, youngling." he said with a grin. He waved goodbye to her as he walked away and she happily waved back. "See you soon, Jenna-san."

"Only if you drop the 'san' bit, Ryou-sama." She called after him.

Ryou almost tripped over his own foot as she called him 'sama' and he could hear her laugh behind him. "Don't fall flat on your face, boy."

Ryou turned around and gave her a gentle smile. "If I do, I got a friend here to pick me up, right?"

Jenna smiled with tears in her eyes and nodded.

----

Half an hour later, Jenna still sat on the bench and she was slightly dozing off in the warm sunlight when a noise startled her. She looked behind her and saw Ryou's forgotten mobile phone.

"Oh dear," she said and looked to where Ryou had walked away. _'Of coarse, he must be long gone by now. Oh dear…'_ she thought.  
She got up with the help of her cane and walked around the bench. She carefully bent down, trying not to injure her old back while doing so. She picked up the phone and looked at it.

"Hmm, let's see…" she mumbled and frowned. She managed to open the phone at last when she used both of her hands. "Hello?" she asked and she pressed it to her ear.

"Um, hello?" A nervous voice asked.

"Ah, it's been a while since I used a phone," she said happily, "and I never used one as small and weird as this one!"

"Um, is this Ryou's phone?" The voice asked.

"Why yes it is, dear." she said and nodded. "I am afraid that the boy has forgotten it here."

"Oh…"

"Yes, but I can keep it here for him if you like." she said. "He will be back someday after all and I can give it to him then."

"O-okay, if I see him I shall tell him that you-"

"Jenna." She said and smiled.

"That you, J-Jenna-san, have it." The voice said.

"You do that," she nodded, "and if I see him first I shall tell him that you called-"

"Yugi."

"That you called, Yugi-kun." she said. "Farewell now."

"Um, goodbye, Jenna-san."

Jenna removed the phone from her ear and clicked it shut. With a smile and a yawn she walked away from the bench, leaning on her cane.

----

Ryou walked away from the park and further away from his home. It was still an hour or so left until he promised that he would be home. He looked around; it was a long time since he had been here last. Not since he was a kid! A childhood friend had lived just around the corner from here.  
Now though, this place looked a lot worse than it did back then. Many of the houses seemed to be abandoned and there were less people here, none at all in fact. Ryou frowned at that and thought about turning back; when someone's deep laughter behind him interrupted his thoughts. Ryou looked back and saw a tall man with dark clothes stand there, with a grin on his face and a cigarette in his hands.

"Well, look here," the man laughed, "what do you do here all alone, pretty thing?"

Ryou's breath got caught in his throat and he backed away from the man. "N-nothing, e-excuse me." Ryou stammered with a weak voice.

When he turned around, he slammed into a broad chest and he looked up. A little older man than the first, with dark beard stubble, leered down over him. Ryou pushed away from the man as hard as he could manage with his thin arms. That seemed to amuse the man and he laughed. With a painful grip he grabbed Ryou's arm and twisted it around his back, the white haired boy cried out from the pain and tried to break loose from the man's hold. That only made him clutch Ryou tighter and he changed his grip so there was no way Ryou could break free from the bigger man. The other, taller one grabbed Ryou's face and brought it close to his own. Ryou wrinkled his nose when he smelled the man's terrible breath.

"Now, now, Puppet, don't scream." he sneered. "You will give us some trouble if you do." He licked the side of Ryou's face and the white haired boy gasped as he felt the panic increase in his chest.

"R-r-release me!" He cried and struggled against their hold again.

"I think not," whispered the man behind him, "you're ours now." He hissed; with force he turned Ryou's head to the side and kissed him hard on the lips.

Ryou tried to pull away and the man hit him hard across the face, splitting his lip. Ryou screamed from the pain and one of the men slammed a dirty hand over Ryou's bleeding mouth. They pulled him away from the street, into a more hidden place between two of the abandoned houses.

"No screaming, little whore," whispered the taller man with a sneer.

"It will cost you dearly." The other man hissed and hit Ryou hard in the stomach, making the white haired boy gasp and double over as much as the men's hold allowed him to.

Ryou whimpered and tears streamed down his cheeks. _'No...not again! Please dear God, not again!' _he gasped,_ 'Anyone! Help me…please!' _He screamed inside and tried in a last desperate attempt to break free.

The two men laughed viciously and their rough faces, filled with lust, were the last thing Ryou saw before he lost consciousness.

* * *

I'm evil…

REVIEW!


	13. Chapter 13

**Demons **

Chapter 13

.

By: Eressie

Disclaimer: … I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh

* * *

Marik Ishtar walked with his hands in his pockets and a backpack on his back. He glared at his dead MP3 around his neck as if that was going to bring it back to life.

"Damn batteries…" he muttered and looked around. Abandoned houses with doors and windows that was nailed shut. _'This place needs a makeover…'  
_  
He kicked an innocent stone that lay on the ground, _'I should have had my motorbike at the airport... then I would not have to walk all the way home.' _he sighed. _'And of coarse I can't even call someone to pick me up, because my damn mobile phone died as well as my MP3!' _he thought sarcastically, cursing his bad luck._ '…this stinks.'  
_  
He looked around as he walked and felt a shill, _'A ghost place that what this is.' _he thought and quickened his pace. All of a sudden a scream filled the air and Marik stopped walking abruptly.

"What the…?" he wondered and looked around, searching for whoever screamed but saw no one.

He continued to walk and now he could hear loud voices and Marik frowned. He walked to the side of the street and picked up an iron pipe that lay among some other pipes and junk – just in case. He was not so dumb that he choose to barge into something dangerous without a weapon. He gripped the iron pipe with both hands and slowly walked forward. He peeked around the corner and saw two large men that stood leering over someone on the ground. Marik gripped the pipe harder and his eyes widened as one of the men backed a step, allowing Marik to see who was on the ground. The blond boy felt a kick in his stomach and his body went numb. _'Ryou!' _Marik saw one of the men bend down towards the white haired boy and Marik suddenly got control over his chocked body again.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" he screamed and sprang towards them, the two surprised men quickly turned around but did not have time to think what was happening before Marik swung the pipe against the taller man's head.

"Get the fuck away Ryou, you bastards!" he shouted and hit the shorter man hard in the stomach, he doubled over and Marik swung the pipe down hard into the back of the man's head. The brute fell to the ground, unconscious.

The taller man got up from the ground, dizzy from the blow to his head. "You fucking brat!" he screamed and pulled out a knife with gritted teeth, he rushed towards Marik but the blond boy was quicker. He hit the man's hand who lost his grip of the knife and dropped it. Without a pause, Marik then swung the pipe as hard as he could into the man's face and the brute was unconscious before he hit the ground. Marik breathed hard and dropped the pipe to the ground, the sound it made echoed coldly in the ally. He looked at Ryou who was completely unaware to what just happened around him.  
Marik fell down on his knees beside Ryou and stroked one of the white haired boy's cheeks with the back of his hand.

"Ryou?" he whispered and his voice trembled. "Ryou?" He searched for a pulse in Ryou's neck and breathed out a sigh of relief when he found one. "Please Ryou, its Marik." said the blond boy and gently shook Ryou's shoulder.

Ryou did not respond and Marik looked around desperately after some one who could help, but except for them; the place was empty of people. The men were still unconscious, drool and blood seeped out from the corner of their mouths and Marik wrinkled his nose in disgust.  
He got up and searched the ally for rope or something close to it. He did not have to go far before he found a blue, old washing line lying on the ground. He walked to one of the men and tied his hands and feet together and then he did the same for the other man. He often cast glances to his friend on the ground to see if he moved or showed any other sign of wakening, he did not. When Marik had tied the two men up and also tied them to a bicycle stand, he searched his pocket for his phone. He cursed when he remembered that it was dead and useless. He searched the men's pockets as well but found nothing of use.  
He kneeled down at Ryou's side again and gently tried to wake him. No response.

"I'm going to lift you up, Ryou." he said with a gentle voice, even though he knew that the white haired boy probably could not hear him.

With one hand under Ryou's shoulder blades and the other under Ryou's knees, he gently lifted Ryou up from the ground. It was not a hard thing to do, because Ryou; being so thin and underweight, did not weight much. He held Ryou against his chest and started to walk quickly but carefully, mindful of the delicate load he now carried.  
He had been walking for fifteen minutes when he felt Ryou stir in his arms. The white haired boy gasped and started to struggle, making it difficult for Marik to hold him.

"Shh, Ryou, it's me; Marik." he said with a calm voice, but Ryou did not seem to hear him. "Please, Ryou, calm down. It's Marik!"

Ryou stilled and opened his eyes; he stared blankly up at his savior and Marik shivered when he saw how lifeless Ryou's eyes looked.

"Ryou?" Marik asked quietly.

The white haired boy did not respond and lay still as death in Marik's arms, staring blankly at nothing. Marik's breathe quickened and he got frightened by Ryou's lack of responds. He looked around, he had not walked far but at least now the surroundings looked nicer than the abandoned area.  
Marik started to walk again and his arms trembled by the effort from holding Ryou. He tried to get contact with his friend as he walked, but he could as well try to get the ground to talk. Ryou did not give one little sign that he knew that Marik was even there.  
He passed a couple of people and Marik desperately tried to get them to help him, but to no success. Everyone ignored them or avoided them, not wanting to get involved. Marik got furious with the ignorant people and he wanted to scream at them with all his might. He did not though, not wanting to upset Ryou in any way.  
Marik gasped and sat down against the wall, placing Ryou in his lap. His arms were aching and even though Ryou was very light, he could not hold him up any more. He needed rest. Marik looked down on Ryou who had his head resting on Marik's right shoulder. He sighed and stroked the white hair from Ryou's face. Ryou now had his eyes closed and Marik looked at him with sorrowful eyes, he sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. He had not seen Ryou for seven months, and this was how their first meeting should be?

Marik growled. _'I should have stayed here, to look after you...'_ he thought and rubbed his tired eyes with one hand, accidently smearing the kohl that he had around his eyes. _'You looked so well the last time I saw you, you seemed better...'  
_  
"Excuse me," A voice interrupted Marik's thoughts and the Egyptian looked up to see a man in a dark grey costume and tie, who had a concerned look in his eyes. "Are you two all right?"

Marik breathed out a sigh of relief. "No, not the least." he said and shook his head. "Do you have a mobile phone?"

The man nodded and started to fumble after a phone in his pockets; he found it and gave it to Marik who took it without a word. He dialed Hisao's mobile number as easily as it were his own and waited.

"Hello?"

"Ryou's not well," said Marik now in a tired, emotionless voice.

"Who are- what do you mean not well?" Hisao's now almost panicked voice said through the phone.

"He got attacked but I saved him just in the nick of time, I think." Marik said. "But now… he does not respond to me even though he is awake," he looked down at Ryou who still had is eyes closed, "more or less."

"Oh no, oh God…"

"Try not to panic, Bakura-san, it will do no one any good." Marik said. "Call an ambulance, I'll look after Ryou." He said and gave the phone back to the man who told Hisao the address where Marik and Ryou where.

Marik held Ryou close to his chest, trying to give him comfort and warmth. He looked up at the nervous man who had lent them his phone; he was fidgeting with his tie and looking around, not knowing what more to do.

"Thank you for helping us," said Marik.

The man jumped at being addressed. "Oh, no need to thank me, I did not do anything."

"You did. I tried to get someone to help, but we got ignored."

The man blushed a little and glanced at Ryou. "Will he be all right?"

Marik looked down on his white haired friend and stroked his cheek with the back of his hand. "I hope so." he whispered.

Soon the air was filled with the sound of the ambulance sirens.

.........

Marik sat in silence beside Ryou's father who sat equally silent, holding Ryou's hand. Marik looked at the pale boy lying on the bed, except for some bruisers on his cheek and a split lip, he looked just like usual. So why did he not wake up? Marik sighed and looked at Hisao. The man's eyes was fixated on Ryou as if watching out for any little movement that told the father that the son was okay and he would wake up any moment. Marik had a feeling that that would not happen, not for quite some time.  
Apathy, the doctors had said. Marik had only heard the word a few times before, but seeing someone who actually had it was scary. Ryou, unmoving and unresponsive... Marik wished that the white haired boy would wake up and at least _look_ at him. He felt so helpless right now and he did not even try to imagine how Hisao felt. He had told Ryou's father what happened and they had called the police as well, and the police had collected the men that hurt Ryou. The men were now in custom and far away from them, and far away from Ryou.  
Marik glared down at his clasped hands. He was so furious with those men, that he did not know what to do with himself. He took a few calming breaths and glanced at Ryou's father again, feeling calmer but more sorrowful. What was he supposed to say to his best friend's father? He had not seen either him or Ryou for months… and he had promised Hisao to protect Ryou at all costs. Marik felt ill.

"I'm sorry…" Marik said carefully not daring to look up at the older man, who turned his head from Ryou to look at Marik.

Hisao looked at Marik. "What for?" he asked with a hoarse voice.

"I… I," Marik stuttered. "I shouldn't have left Ryou, I should have stayed a-and protect him." he paused. "But he was doing so well then! I thought… I-"

Hisao grabbed Marik's shoulder and gave him a little squeeze, he shook his head. "It's not your fault; you have always been a great support to Ryou, ever since you met him… well, almost ever since you met him." Hisao said

Marik flushed and winced at Hisao's last words. When he first met Ryou, they were both 'possessed' by a darker self. But after Yami no Bakura and Yami no Marik disappeared, Marik and Ryou had become great friends.

Hisao sighed and rubbed his eyes with his free hand. "If it is anybody's fault, then it's mine."

"Yours?" Marik asked, highly doubted that Hisao's words were true.

"I'm his father. When he needed me…I was not there for him, I've never been." he sighed. "Nothing bad should have happened to him if I just had taken care of him better, especially after his mother and sister died. I was so buried in my own sorrow to see him properly… I should never have left his side. I-"

"No…" Marik whispered. "It's not your fault either…" he said and looked at Ryou's calm face. "You're a good father, Bakura-san." he whispered.

Marik tried to swallow the painful lump he felt in his throat, but he did not succeed. Tears filled his eyes, making his vision blurry. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the soft mattress to Ryou's bed, hiding his tears from Hisao.  
Hisao got up from his chair and went over to the other side of Ryou's bed. He sat down and looked at his still son. He raised one hand and gently stroked his son's face with the backside of his hand. A single tear rolled down from his cheek and he smiled a gentle smile.

"Take your time, son," Hisao whispered hoarsely and leaned down to kiss Ryou on his head. "we will wait right here for you."

Ryou looked almost dead, completely unresponsive - just his calm breathing showed them that he was still alive. Even though it did not look like it; Hisao and Marik thought that somehow the white haired boy could hear them.

* * *

Good? Bad? Let me know and review!


	14. Chapter 14

**Demons**

Chapter 14

.

By: Eressie

Disclaimer: …don't own Yo-Gi-Oh!

Notes:

Thanks to all who have reviewed, added to favorites and alerts, and stuck with me so far! I appreciate it! Please continue to do so! ^_^

_italic text_ is dreams (in Ryou's case coma dreams) and thoughts in real time and life.  
**'Fat text'** is thoughts inside a dream

Also; this chapter takes place two weeks after the last chapter.

* * *

_Darkness, everywhere pitch black darkness. A thick mass of dark despair smothering him, feeling like his lungs was filling up with thick mud. Shaking, clammy hands reached forward and met a solid wooden door. Heart reaching with the next gasp of air stuck in his throat. He pondered as hard as he could on the door, screaming for help. Tears streamed down his face mixing with his cold sweat, his long, white hair felt wet and it clung to his naked skin on his back.  
A light was lit outside in the room_, _light shone in through the small gap under the door and though the keyhole. Rattling and swearing as well as heavy boots against the dusty floor could be heard, the door swung open with a bang and the boy closed his tear filled eyes. The sudden light stung in his eyes. A_ _deep, wheezing breathing came close to his face and he shivered in fear as he smelled the far too familiar smell.  
Too scared now to open his eyes, _he _shut them tighter and tried to keep out what he knew was on the other side of his eyelids.  
__**'It's only a memory, it's only a memory, and this is not real, not real, not real…' **__he ranted in his mind, but somehow this dream felt far too real._ _became blurry. Before he had the chance to move from the wall; big, rough hands grabbed him by his hair and covered his mouth._

_Thundering laughter made him open his eyes in a start and before him was his worst nightmare. The man who hunted his dreams and waking life day after day, the man who destroyed him…_

_"What's the matter, little whore?" the man hissed. "A little nightmare perhaps?"_

_Ryou's breath got stuck in his throat and his body was paralysed, he could not bring himself to move, not to scream. Cold, evil eyes bore into his own and that horrible stank of old man and alcohol reached his nose as the man leaned closer to him._

_"You are a good boy, aren't you? Good little boys don't scream." the man whispered in Ryou's ear, too close. And the scared boy could feel the man's dry lips against his ear. "Don't you know what happens to naughty boys, hm? Shall I show you again?" the man snarled and stroked his fingers up and down Ryou's naked thigh non to gently._

_Ryou gasped and backed away from the large man, this resistance from the boy made the man furious and slapped the boy hard on his face. Ryou slammed into the wall with a cry. The blow stunned him and his eyesight_

_"Filthy whore!" the man growled and shook the small boy hard, slamming Ryou's head into the wall over and over again. "I shall-"_

_The man got interrupted by the doorbell and he swore loudly. He released the hold he had on Ryou but grabbed him by the throat instead. Ryou choked and tried to loosen the man's grip around his neck with his small hands, but to no avail_.

_"You stay quiet, filth." the man hissed, "one little sound from you and I'll kill you with my bare hands!"_

_He let go and stood up as swiftly as he could, leaving the small, twelve year old Ryou gasping for air. The man got out and locked the door behind him._

_Ryou collapsed on the dirty floor inside the small wardrobe. He brought his legs to his chest and wrapped his arms around his naked body. Nausea overtook him and he vomited until his stomach was empty. He gasped after air and he cried as quietly as he could. He wanted to go home, why did not his parents come to get him?_

_Further away in the house, a door that got closed could be heard and Ryou cringed as heavy footsteps walked towards were he was kept. The wardrobe door opened slowly. Ryou shook and shivered with fear as he opened his eyes and looked up at the disgusting man that leered over him._

_"Now… where were we, little one?"_

* * *

Marik just left his sister's old apartment and was on his way to Ryou's home for his usual daily visits. Ryou, who lay in a coma since two weeks past, now was in his father's care at home. Hisao wanted his son to be more comfortable. In the clutches of a white, sterile hospital he knew that his son would not be comfortable at all. Every now and then a doctor would visit, taking test, checking for any change in Ryou's condition. Nothing ever changed though. Ryou still lay still as the dead and just as pale. His bruisers, which he had received from those men who attacked him, were slowly fading away. Those men got two years in prison, the police informed them. They also had to give Ryou and his father money as a compensation for the damage. That, in Marik's opinion, was way too gentle punishment.  
No one knew when, and _if_, Ryou would wake again. But Marik and Ryou's father decided to be hopeful, they knew Ryou would wake – he just needed time.

Reaching Ryou's and Hisao's building, he parked his motorcycle and took off his helmet with a sigh. He pulled his fingers through his hair and got off from the bike. He always had mixed feeling when he visited Ryou; he felt sad when seeing his friend just lying there, unresponsive of his presence. But he was also relived that Ryou was still alive and stable, and close to him.  
He walked up the stairs and knocked a few times on Ryou's apartment door before opening it himself, not waiting for Hisao to answer. He took off his shoes and put his helmet down beside them. He walked towards the kitchen that was conjoined with the living room; he smiled at Hisao who stood by the oven. The blue haired man was wearing an apron and a puzzled look upon his face as he read a cooking book.

"Hello, Hisao-san." Marik said and nodded his head.

Hisao jumped a little, not noticing Marik enter the apartment. "Oh, hello Marik-kun." he said with a smile. "Sorry, I'm trying to read this old god forsaken recipe…" he said and gestured to the book, "my wife wrote it and I got some trouble reading her handwriting as well as her thoughts in this."

Marik chuckled and looked at the recipe. "Looks fancy," he said, "what's the occasion?"

A big smile broke out on Hisao face. "Ryou is making progress."

Marik eyes widened. "What?"

Hisao nodded quickly. "Yes, he moved his head a little and his fingers." Hisao said with a smile. "The doctor said that it could as well be nothing, coma patients can sometimes move a little although it isn't much." Hisao paused. "But I see it as progress."

Marik's eyes lit up and he smiled broadly. "That's great news!" he exclaimed and turned around quickly to rush over to Ryou's bedroom, without another word to Hisao. The man just smiled at the boy's sudden dash and continued with trying to figure out the mystery of his late wife's recipe.

The door of coarse was wide open so Marik strode in and walked to Ryou were he lay on the bed. Marik smiled at him and stroked some of Ryou's white hair away from his face.

"Hi Ryou." he said with a gentle, affectionate voice. He sat down on the armchair that now always stood beside Ryou's bed. "Heard that you're feeling better…" he looked at Ryou's emotionless face. "I hope you are."

He silently sat there, watching Ryou. The only movement the white haired boy made was the breathing. Ryou had a plastic tube that run a bit into his nose, providing him with oxygen, helping him to breathe more easily. Marik leaned his head into his hand; his other hand took Ryou's. He gave it a squeeze and hoped that somehow Ryou would squeeze back – he did not.

"Isn't it time for you to wake up now, dear?" he chuckled a little. "You have kept us all worrying a little too long." he said and glanced at Ryou's face, he reached over and held his palm on Ryou's pale cheek. "I want you to open your beautiful, brown eyes soon, you hear me?"

Ryou still lay unresponsive and Marik leaned back into the armchair, one of his hands still holding Ryou's. He smiled a little as he imagined Ryou sitting up from the bed just to slap him on the shoulder for calling his eyes beautiful. He really wished Ryou would wake, even just to slap him.  
He sat there in silence, caressing the upper side of Ryou's hand with his thumb as he sat there absent minded. He could hear Hisao in the kitchen, preparing food for the three of them. Ryou, of coarse had to be fed through a tube he had reaching down into his stomach since he could not eat on his own.  
The phone rang, bringing Marik out from his thoughts. He got up and grabbed it before Hisao did.

"Hello, Bakura's residence, Marik speaking."

"Oh, hi Marik-kun!" said a happy voice on the other side.

Marik smiled a little. "Hi, Yugi-kun," he said, "everything all right with you?"

"Yes, I'm fine." he said. "You're okay I hope and Ryou-kun as well?"

Marik nodded. "Yes, we're fine. Could be better of coarse, but you know… we're fine."

Yugi nodded, although Marik could not see it. "Listen, is it all right for me to come over?"

Yugi wondered. "If it doesn't stress Ryou-kun, of course!" he added quickly.

Marik chuckled. "No, you are welcome. I think Ryou would be happy to have your company."

Marik smiled to himself, it was nice that Ryou and the gang had become closer over the past few weeks. After Ryou told Yugi how ill he was and what happened to him in the past, they became closer. That made him happy to hear, he did not like Ryou feeling lonely. Also, Marik thought it would help Ryou get better if he could get the support he needed from his friends.

"I'll come over now then?" Yugi asked.

Marik chuckled. "Yeah, see you in a bit! Bye Yugi-kun."

"Bye!"

Marik put the phone down and walked over to the kitchen where Hisao was. "Yugi-kun is coming over."

"Hm?" Hisao said and stirred in one of the pots on the stove. "Oh, the little one!" Hisao smiled, "is he going to eat as well?"

Marik shrugged. "I don't know, probably." he smiled. "An extra meal can't harm him anyway."

Hisao nodded. "Yes, you're right in that."

"Is there something I can help you with?" Marik asked and looked at all the ingredients, some of which still needed to be scaled and chopped.

"Yes, if you like." Hisao said and gestured to the vegetables.

Marik took out a knife and started to chop. "I am not much of a cook, but at least I know how to chop and scale and stir the pot." Marik said with a smile. "My sister always makes me do it."

"You're a bit like me then," Hisao smiled. "I could not cook at all before, but I've learned over the years and turned out to be quite a good cook if I may say so myself." he said and added some of the chopped vegetables to the pot.

Marik smiled and nodded. He looked down on the onion he was chopping, lost in thoughts. The guilt he felt for ever leaving Ryou swelled up in him and he silently promised himself to never leave Ryou again. He swallowed the thick lump he felt in his throat and continued chopping. He vaguely could hear Hisao speaking to him, but he paid no mind to Ryou's father. He was thinking about what could have happened to Ryou if he did not come in that precise moment to save Ryou from those men. Ryou would never have survived another violation like that again, like he received from that man when he was twelve. Those men would have killed him in the process; Marik had no doubt about it.  
His eyesight had become blurry because of the tears in his eyes. He bent his head lower to hide them from Hisao.  
_'Why do Ryou always get so victimized? Why do bad things keep happening to him?' _Marik thought angrily._ 'He never deserved to be treated like this! Oh, and that fucking man, how can someone rape a child! Ryou was just a little boy then!'_ Marik boiled with anger towards that man, _no_, that _demon_.  
Ryou should never have known such pain and humiliation. It really destroyed the boy. And then also have his mother and sister torn away from him so soon after that tragedy?  
_'No one can have something like that happening to you and get away unscratched, unchanged.'_ Marik wished he had been there when Ryou was twelve. To help him – protect him. Instead of being looked up underground with his family. _'We both have had such rotten lives…'_ Marik thought miserable, _'but Ryou had worse. Far worse.' _he could not begin to imagine how he would be if all those terrible things had happened to him as it did to Ryou. _'I would be long dead.' _Marik shook his head. _'Ryou is so strong.'_ uncontrolled tears fell down his cheeks against his will, and to his dismay; Hisao noticed it finally.

"Is something wrong, Marik-kun?" Hisao asked concerned.

Marik shook his head and looked away from Hisao. "No, nothing is wrong." he said and backed away from the table, leaving the onions half chopped. "It's just the onions, you know," he said and tried to sound cheerful, "always makes my eyes tear up, damn thing."

Hisao nodded and opened one of the windows above the kitchen sink, trying to get rid of the strong smell the onion made. Marik tried to dry his face as best as he could with his sleeves. The doorbell rang loudly and startled the blond boy; he went to open it, knowing it was Yugi.  
After he opened the door, the happy smile on Yugi's face quickly changed into a frown.

"What's the matter, Marik-kun?" he asked carefully.

Marik just shook his head and looked away from the smaller boy, hiding his face. "Nothing Yugi-kun," he said quickly, "listen, can you continue to help Hisao with the food? I need to- I need to wash up." Marik said and walked to the bathroom.

Yugi watched him go with concerned and questioning eyes. He slowly took off his shoes and walked to the kitchen. He greeted Hisao with a smile and a small bow, and the blue haired man smiled back at him. Noticing the half chopped onions and vegetables on the table, Yugi walked towards them. Always happy to help, Yugi started with the task that Marik had abandoned.

In the bathroom, Marik dried his face with a towel with a sigh. He did not like how emotional he had gotten recently; he needed to hold himself together. Be strong. For Ryou.

He walked out from the bathroom and into Ryou's bedroom, closing the door behind him; shutting out Yugi's and Hisao's happy conversation. He leaned back against the door and looked around in Ryou's room. It was tidy, too tidy. It did barely look like anyone lived in there anymore. They stuff in there always lay on the same places, noting ever changed, since Ryou did not use them. It was too clean as well, Hisao probably cleaned in there often. Some dark spots could be seen here and there; Marik guessed it was dried up blood that refused to be washed away. Another bed had been put into the room, a bed for Hisao so he could be close to Ryou in the night as well if anything happened to him or changed.

Marik looked at Ryou who lay unmoving on his bed as usual. He smiled sadly and walked slowly towards the white haired boy. He lay down beside Ryou on the bed and watched Ryou from the side. He laid his hand on Ryou's chest as if reassuring himself that the pale boy really was breathing and alive.  
Marik don't know how long he lay there gazing at his friend, time seemed irrelevant.

"What do you dream of, Ryou?" he whispered silently, his hand rising and lowering with the movement of Ryou's chest. Marik moved nearer and held the white haired boy close. "Where are you?"

* * *

_In the darkness, a naked boy shivered on the floor. Every breath, every movement was painful. His body ached where he lay in his own blood and vomit. Bruisers, wounds, damaged soul… he was breaking down.  
That monster outside the wardrobe door had him in a tight iron grip. He could not escape. He was doomed to hell, to be the devils toy.  
And he wept and begged. He begged for death, he begged for life. He wanted to go home._-

_"Please…" hoarse whispers could be heard in the dusty darkness, wet coughing with blood dripping from his lips._  
_Dirty nails scratching at the wooded door and floor, splinters stabbing into the skin. A weak, desperate attempt to get out._

_"S-save me."_

* * *

**REVIEW! **Also, feel free to give me tips and suggestions on what should happen next!  
Apparently, fanfiction . net have forgotten how to plain and simple upload a new chapter WITHOUT making the text all wrong… it drives me insane!

Not much left now…  
**  
REVIEW!**


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